


Memories of an Inferno

by TheWholeTree



Category: Promare (2019)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Burnish Galo Thymos, Child Abuse, Foresight Foundation Galo Thymos kinda?, Galo doesn't know either, Implied knife play, M/M, Mind Manipulation, Minor Character Death, Nightmares, There are some original characters, a bit of hurt/comfort, a wee bit of angst, ah everyone's favorite boys are here, first fic to ever post, flirty lio, galo and lio are now adults, is it always this nerve wrecking?, its lio steal your man, okay so maybe a bit more of angst?, some smut, starts off with kid galo and lio, there some type of tension, what is love?, will add characters and tags as I go
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-17
Updated: 2020-03-12
Packaged: 2021-02-27 12:35:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 46,176
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22287238
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheWholeTree/pseuds/TheWholeTree
Summary: Galo doesn't remember much of anything from his childhood and he discovers that there is more to the Foresight Foundation that meets the eye. Along the way, he meets a boy with very familiar eyes and a rare smile that feels like home. Together, they will try to overcome the secrecy that plagues their world.
Relationships: Lio Fotia/Galo Thymos, Minor or Background Relationship(s), minor galo/original characters that really only show up in one or two mentions, very minor gueira/meis/lio
Comments: 64
Kudos: 131





	1. Recalling Shouldn't Be This Hard

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! I don't usually write fics (it has been a long time since I actually wrote, ah college) but I wanted to contribute to this fandom. Maybe it'll help me want to contribute more. Anyways, I hope you enjoy and thank you for stopping by :)!

Galo didn't remember anything before the age of ten. He didn't remember the flames that engulfed his apartment building, didn't remember being carried out by the now Governor of Promepolis, didn't remember the fire supposedly caused by him. Galo's eyes roamed over the newspaper clipping again as he was sitting at a small desk next to Kra- the Governor's. He felt as if something was missing and he couldn't quite tell what it was. He didn't remember. 

"Galo."

The Governor’s voice was loud in the silent room, it sounded like a bomb and it startled Galo. Or at least that's what other books would say in describing loud voices in quiet rooms, he's never heard a bomb before. Galo straightened to attention, eyes wide with glorification as Kra- the Governor stood up. He nodded his head towards Galo, indicating that Galo should stand too and he started to walk towards the elevator's doors. 

"Come along, it's time for your check-in with the clinic."

Galo, practically tripping over his feet in his hurry, chased after him before entering the elevator. As the elevator shot down, Galo pressed his face and hands against the glass watching the trees sway below them. 

"Governor Kray?"

There was a hum of acknowledgment, alerting Galo that the Governor was listening to him. The rustling of the pages continued as the Governor went through the papers attached to the clipboard.

"When would I be able to go outside?" 

Galo alternated between watching the reflection of the Governor and the disappearing outside world before he was surrounded in stark white walls again, the robotic voice announcing they arrived at Wing A. Galo watched the reflection of the man next to him. 

"Soon Galo, soon." 

In the reflection, his blue eyes clashed back with his own as he felt a gloved hand pet his head before they exited the elevator. They strolled down the hallway, passing some doors and more open hallways leading to different wings. Galo looked at the different rooms with digital numbers on the doors. 

_A5, A10, A11, A1-..._

His attention was snagged away from the numbers and met with interesting pinkish-purple eyes resting upon an equally interesting face. Time slowed and Galo's eyes grew wide as his cheeks warmed. 

The boy, at least he thought the kid was a boy, was his height or maybe he was a bit shorter. He had fluffy hair that reached chin-height with longer hair in the front that framed his face. His bangs were held to the side using a bobby pin, a dark contrast against his light hair. He was wearing the same white hooded shirt and shorts uniform that Galo had on, down to the black band around his wrist. Next to the boy walked a nurse, her pen moved from side to side on the paper that was clipped onto the board. There was a bandage that wrapped up the entirety of his hand, arm, and appeared around the boy's neck. Galo's eyebrows furrowed in confusion, the boy raised an eyebrow in answer. 

The spell broke as the Governor rested his hand on Galo's shoulder causing him to slightly jump and he looked away from the boy. He looked at the face of the Governor, who smiled. He nodded his head to the right where they would have to turn. Galo looked back over his shoulder and saw the boy was looking back at him too before disappearing down another hallway with the woman. 

"Hey, hey Governor. Who was that?"

"Who was who?"

"The boy with fluffy hair? Is he a boy?"

There was a pause of silence and Galo looked back up. The Governor seemed to be analyzing him and he smiled again, slowly. For a moment, he felt a familiar shiver ran up his spine and he took a step back, eyes growing wide again but in fear and confusion. Familiar? Why familiar? He didn't remember feeling this way around the Governor, ever. 

"Yes, he's a boy and his name is Lio." 

The Governor’s voice shook Galo away from his thoughts, meeting eyes with him again. Lowering his hand down- when did he place his hand against his temple? - he tightened his hand at the hem of his shirt.

"Can, can I meet him? I've never been around a kid my age before."

"I suppose you can, he is a bit of a trouble-maker. Maybe having you around him will cause him to act differently. I'll have someone guide you to his room later on."

Galo's bounced with excitement and his smile grew again at the idea of making a new friend. They smile didn't leave him even as they finally arrived at the examination. 

Stupid examinations. 

Dr. Ardebit was waiting for them, already holding the wires connecting to the sticky squares. 

"Hello, Doctor!" 

He ran up to her and threw his arms around her midsection. 

"Hello, Galo. How are you?"

There was laughter in her question as she ruffled his gravity-defying hair, one of her arms around his shoulders as she returned the hug.

"Good! Governor said he would let me meet another kid here in the facility! I'm excited, I've never hung around a kid my age before. I've always been here so it'll be a nice change!" Galo chittered away excitedly, almost didn't notice the brief moment where Doctor Ardebit tensed up slightly before relaxing down again. 

Almost.

"Dr. Ardebit?"

She quickly looked down at him and smiled, unraveling his arms from her midsection and clasping one in her hand. 

"Come along Galo, ready for your examination?"

Galo looked over his shoulder and blinked as he saw the Governors’ eyes, red and visible. Threatening. The shiver was back again and gone once the examination room's door slid closed.

~~~~

Galo stood from the ground where he was sitting and made his way to the full-length window in the room. He pressed his face against it and gazed at the butterflies fluttering by. The window allowed him to see the small garden that was surrounded by other rooms. Trees were large, the flowers were vibrant, and there were even benches and a small well. Galo wanted the outside, no, he _craved_ it. With a sigh, he thunked his head against the glass.

He should be studying for the tests the Governor gives him but he can't seem to find the will to focus. Huffing a large breath, he causes the window to fog up and draws his favorite toy, the matoi - in it's standing glory! As he's finishing up the drawing, he sees the tips of some white shoes before he looks up and meets eyes with the boy from before.

He quickly wipes away the fog away, eyes growing wide to match his smile. 

"Lio!"

For a split second, surprise shaped the boy's features. As he took a step forward, his lips moved in quick succession and he leaned towards the window, attentive - waiting. For what? Galo tilted his head at Lio, confusion evident in his features. Lio scowled running his bandaged hand through his hair, slightly clenching it in his fist as frustration cloaked his face. 

Tapping at his chin, Galo tried to think of ways to better communicate with the boy without having to yell out the words. He snapped his fingers and tapped on the glass to catch Lio's attention, who instantly looked up with a frown. His eyebrows furrowed down, he had an impatient look in his eyes but they turned wide once he saw what Galo was doing. 

Repeating the action from before Galo breathed against the glass causing it to fog up again and wrote the opposite way as to let his words be easier for Lio to read. 

_Lio?_

A smile sneaked onto Lio's lips and his shoulders shook a bit, Galo could tell that the boy had let out a huff of laughter at the improvised idea. Mirth danced in Lio's eyes and Galo felt his cheeks warm up again as he became transfixed with his smile. He quickly looked down and rubbed the back of his neck feeling his heart pound in his chest. He felt, he felt.

What did he feel?

A squeaking noise caught his attention and he saw that Lio had breathed onto the window and was writing his own set of words.

_You remembered my name._

_Of course! The Great Galo Thymos never forgets a name!_

After a second, he creates another fogged section below that sentence

_*please read the terms and conditions*_

Lio's eyes moved as he read and his shoulders shook again as he released more laughter, pushing aside a part of his hair behind his ear. Galo's heart continued it's weird rhythm in his chest, a feeling of pride swelled within him. Pride to be able to steal away Lio's laughs like locked gems, gems he did not want to share.

Galo's ate up Lio's written words as he wrote them in his fog, bouncing on the balls of his feet with anticipation. He was hungry for what Lio had to say, he wanted. Wanted, wanted, wanted.

To burn.

Burn?

A nail tapping against the glass had Galo zoning back in and he looked at the words Lio had written, excitement ever-present in his eyes. He instantly zoomed onto the words. 

_Why are you with Kray and not with the others?_

_Others? Other kids?_

Lio's furrow was back and just as he was about to release a breath onto the glass, he straightened up quickly and looked over his shoulder. When he looked back the frown was back and his lips moved again, this time Galo understood. He understood very well.

_Leaving._

Lio took a couple of steps back, not turning away from Galo. Like he didn't want to leave, not when they finally met, finally spoke, finally. Galo watched as Lio said more words, slower than the others so that he could catch them. 

_I'll_

_Find_

_You._

Galo blinked and nodded, a smile again on his lips. With Galo's confirmation, Lio took more steps back, nodded back at him, and left in a small jog.

Others? What did Lio mean by others? Kids? Were there more kids in the building?

That didn't make sense, but why else would Lio be here? Galo's questions began to roll around his head, questions he could ask the Governor about. Then why did it feel like it would not be a good idea to ask? A heavy stone sat in his gut and he felt it become heavier at the thought of approaching the Governor with the questions. But why? Why had the Governor taken the time to hide this truth from Galo? What could he gleam from it? Feeling irritated by the unanswered questions, Galo ran his hands through his hair.

He glanced up and caught an image of himself in the reflection, his hair in complete disarray. It was almost tempting to ask his reflection what it would do though, he knew there would be no response. With a huff Galo returned to his studies and finished up, he started to put away his work. Once the area is cleaned, he exited the room and headed to the direction where the tutor's dropbox was at. His footsteps were quiet in the hallway as he made his way to his destination, he looked at the doors he passed. Doors with numbers on them. Where there people in those rooms? Children? Adults?

Depositing the work into the box, Galo looked around him and ushered quickly down a hallway with a large metal door at the end. He looked at the map next to the door, _You are here_ , read the map with a big blue circle. The snort that escaped his lips was one he couldn't hold back as he remembered reading about malls in one of the books the Governor gave him. Galo took a quick note of the hallway behind the metal that would lead him to Wing D, the… _experimental_ wing? _Experimental?_ The image of Lio's bandages appeared in his mind as the rock feeling returned to his stomach.

No, no. It wouldn't be what Galo was thinking - he was jumping to conclusions, wasn't he? He had to be, there was no way Kray would let anything happen to his people. He rescued Galo after all. The Governor wouldn't let any harm come to anyone!

 _Right?_

"Galo?" 

Galo felt the hairs on the nape of his neck stand, he turned his head to the side. Felt how he clutched both hands against his chest, he felt his heart beating so much quicker than before. He hadn't noticed how dark the end of the hallway was until that very moment. The Governor's intimidating form almost took up the entrance of the hallway, his front encased by shadows. But somehow, Galo was able to see a sliver of red of the Governor's eyes. Glowing.

_Burning._

_Burning. Burning. Burning._

_Burn._

Burn?

"Galo."

The Governor's voice called to him again, his voice still calm and the glow of his eyes was gone. There seemed to be more light now, Galo looked around a bit confused before facing forward.

"I, I got distracted! I thought I saw something shiny at the end of the hallway! But, it was just the map. I didn't realize how big this building was Gov! That's pretty impressive!"

Galo bonked his head with his fist lightly as he let out a quiet laugh. Was his voice normal? He hadn't done anything wrong. Then why did he feel like he was caught with his hand in the cookie jar? 

"I see. Well, did you finish your work?"

"Yes, sir! I placed it in the drop-box already so that it could be looked over." 

Should he ask? It could be something else than what Galo imagined, it didn't have to be anything like that. He always did have an overactive imagination, the Governor always told him that. 

When? When had the Governor said that?

He opened his mouth slightly to ask but the question couldn't, _wouldn't,_ leave his mouth.

"Can, can I get a cookie if my work is correct?" 

The question came out more shaky than necessary.

"We can get you a cookie if the work is right, come along Galo. It's time for dinner and it's waiting in my office. If the work is right, I'll have Biar bring up a dessert for you." 

The Governor moved to the side allowing more room in the hallway for Galo to pass. Galo's limbs moved almost robotically until he willed that feeling to go away. He didn't look back, he didn't need to give Kra- the Governor a reason to get suspicious. But he wasn't doing anything wrong, he wasn't. But maybe the Governor was? Maybe, he wasn't. Was he?

As they walked to the elevator, Galo fiddled with a rouge thread coming from the seam of his uniformed shirt. 

"Gov?"

There was a hum of acknowledgment, a prompt for Galo to continue.

"Are there more kids here?"

The silence danced in between them until halfway up to the Governor's office.

"There are... People outside of my employees here."

"Why are they here for?"

"They're people who need help."

"Help from what?"

"Something that's mutated them. We're going to fix them so they can be a part of the community again."

"Mutated?"

"It means they're sick."

"Sick? From what? I thought science had come up with a cure for all illnesses?"

"Not this one."

"What is this one? What happens to them? What about their families?"

"Enough Galo."

Enough? This wasn't enough, Galo had to know. He wanted to help, he thought of Lio. Maybe he was sick? Maybe he could help him! Galo looked up at the Governor, determination front and center in his eyes.

"What can I do to help?"

"Nothing now Galo. Enough, let us move on from the subject."

Galo didn't want to move on the subject though, he wanted answers. He wanted to help! A frown found its way onto his lips and he kept pressing for more. He wanted to know.

"But I want to know, I want to he-"

"I said, enough!"

The expression that settled on Kray's face was one that Galo had never known. One that seemed so wrong to be there but there it was, making itself at home on Kray's face. Within a second it was gone as if it had never been there. As if Galo imagined it, he hadn't, he saw it and it frightened him more than he'd ever admitted.

The elevator's voice broke the tension, announcing their arrival to the Governor's office.

"I will tell you when you are older, Galo. For now, let's just enjoy the food brought to us."

A hand was placed at the nape of his neck as he was guided to the table in the middle of the office. A ridiculously long table with chairs at each end, a maid to the side with golden covered platters.

"Yes, Governor."

He would ask Lio when he saw him again.

~~~~

A couple of days passed and Galo hadn't seen Lio since. He wanted to see him again, he wanted to know what Lio thought of his questions. Wanted to know if Lio had questions too. But, what would they be about? Would Lio have his theories? Is this why he had asked why he wasn't with the others? Did he think Galo was sick? Was Galo sick?

He paced around his room again taking into account what laid around his room. The Governor had said that he would let Galo meet Lio his room. Did he mean it or was it just something he said to shut Galo up? His hand ran through his hair, if Lio was someone who was sick then why would the Governor let him meet with him? Was Lio even sick to begin with?

His loud groan bounced back at him in his still room. More questions and still no answers, this outcome started to irritate Galo more and more each day. He did a face-plant onto his red, yellow, and blue bed, the only thing in this boring room with real color. Galo caught sight of the whiteboard he used during lessons with one of the older tutors. One that didn't like the technological advances for schooling so he requested the Governor to supply the board. And some.. markers. Markers that can write on glass too, Galo could give Lio a marker to write with instead of using fog! Maybe his bed was not the only colorful thing in his room after all. 

Galo left his room and headed to the door that connected Kray's room to the living room in the condo. Once at the door, Galo raised his fist to knock… only he didn't have to because the door slid open to reveal Kray in his lounge clothing. In his hand was a cup of coffee and the other had some papers. Papers that had pictures of people on them. People who looked normal.

Galo's eyes snapped from the papers and back to Kray immediately. He noticed the movement of Kray's arm has he tucked papers under his arm, away from Galo's sight. Away from the world.

"I want to meet Lio!"

Kray appeared to be scrutinizing him as he looked down at Galo. He couldn't quite tell, but when could he tell what Kray was thinking?

"I will let you meet Lio. Biar will escort you to his room tomorrow in the afternoon after lunch."

Galo felt the glee fill his body and before he could stop himself, he hugged Kray around his hip area. 

"Thank you, Kray! Thank you so much!" 

Quickly, he let go of him before he ran to his room and heard his door as it slid closed behind him.

He was finally going to meet Lio again and it was going to be sooner rather than later.


	2. And yet, the Ache Worsens

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi again! I'm returning with the second chapter of this fic and it's mostly dialogue. But, good news? Lio and Galo meet again. I hope you enjoy this chapter!

He knew he was dreaming, he felt it. Galo knew this darkened space, he knew the floating sensation. What he didn’t know, was the new visitor floating in front of him. The visitor seemed to almost be bouncing, its edges flickered with each bounce. It almost looked like a flame except the colors didn’t match normal fire, no, instead this flame had the color of a lemon yellow, pastel blue, and lavender. Galo felt himself reach out and cupped his hands around it, he felt the warmth, felt a part of him being cradled in his own hands. 

The feeling of wanting was more prominent, even more than before; the want, want, want.

Want to, to, to.

_To burn._

The visitor whispered to him and Galo wanted to burn, to burn brighter than ever. He wanted to become an inferno, wanted to consume everything with his flames. His flame flickered brighter and higher, it licked up his arms, reached higher and higher until it almost engulfed him. 

_Let us burn, burn, burn._

_Burn hotter than ever._

_Burn._

_Burn._

_Burn._

**_Together._ **

His fire hummed the word to him, hummed as the darkened room brightened. Began to show more flames. More in color. More of him. More, more, more.

Galo wanted.

Wanted. Wanted. Wanted more.

More.

More. 

Mo— 

The sound of his alarm startled Galo awake and he sat up gasping in his bed. He felt the sweat, felt how his clothes clung to his skin. Felt empty, how hollow he was. Galo couldn’t remember why — he couldn’t remember. He felt so full before. Before? Then, he felt the wet slide down his cheeks, felt how the pelts of water hit his hands on the blankets. Felt as more tears began flowing out like streams, wetting both his hands and the blankets. Why was he crying? Why couldn’t he stop? Why did he feel so cold?

Galo rubbed at his face and pressed the heels of his palms against his eyes, willing the tears to go away, willing away the unwelcome whimpers coming out of his mouth, willing the feeling of his throat constricting to be gone, and willing the feeling of wholeness to come back. The sound of the door sliding open registered in his mind, but Galo couldn’t quite come out of his thoughts. The feeling of emptiness, the want.

_The cold._

“Galo, I’m sorry to intrude but Governor Kray mentioned that you would be up by n-. Galo?” 

He heard the concern and confusion in Dr. Ardebit’s voice, heard her footsteps as she neared, felt the dip of his bed as she sat down, and felt a hand rest on his arm. But, all of this just made the tears flow stronger, made him wail as he hugged her, and even with all this; the cold stayed.

Dr. Ardebit cradled him close to her and he felt it when she played with his hair, stroking it, he heard the gentle humming. Once Galo was calmer, he understood what she was murmuring to him. 

“Breathe Galo, breathe with me and count in between breaths. All the way to ten in your head and then start the process again.”

She started and Galo followed her, followed until he stopped crying, followed until her warmth chased away the cold, followed until the want was not his everything.

“You're doing good. Do you feel a bit better?”

After she felt him nod, she helped him stand up and led him to the kitchen. Galo slid onto the chair and as Dr. Ardebit passed him, she ruffled his hair.

“Any requests?”

“Pancakes and eggs please, you always make them the best Doc.”

Her laugh was quiet as she looked through the cupboards, looking for the mix. 

“I’ve always told you to call me Heris outside of the office, Galo. You don’t have to have so many formal with me.”

“I know, it’s just a force of habit. Sometimes, I think Kray gets upset when I call him Kray even outside of the office.”

There was a hum, one that told him Heris was thinking of his words. However, she never responded even after considering his words. He didn’t know how to feel about that. The silence hovered over them for a couple more minutes only giving way as Heris ran the water into the pancake mix bottle. Sucking in a quiet breath, Galo broke it again.

“You’re not going to ask?”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

Did he want to talk about it? Would the feeling empty return if he did? What would she say?

“Maybe after breakfast.”

Heris hummed in agreement as she started to shake the bottle to make sure the water and mix blended.

“Hey Heris, what’s the experimental room for? In Wing D?” 

There was a quiet clang as the pan was placed on the stove. Heris attempted to spread the hardened butter around the pan.

“Damn, this butter is still too hard to use. We’re gonna have to chat for a bit, Galo.”

There was a clicking sound before Heris turned to face him, her smile from before was gone. Her eyes determined and her lips pursed.

“Galo, I’m going to be honest with you. We don’t have much time. Hopefully, my response will change your course of action so you won't get hurt anymore.”

“Time? Anymore?”

“Listen to me. Pay close attention to what I have to say so that you understand. There are cameras in here and my friend will be fixing the feed of this conversation so Kray won't know what we talked about.”

Heris left the stove after placing the heat on low and kneeled slightly as to be at the same eye-level as Galo. She gently cradled his face and he felt her thumbs glide over his cheeks.

“There are things you don’t understand, things that would probably be difficult to get. I would tell you not to look further, to let it go before anything can happen. You’re, well, you and you won’t stop investigating it even if I told you to.”

The look in her eyes was grim but determined, the smile that rested on her lips matched them. She looked down, her eyes showing that she was thinking of her next sentence before she looked back at him.

“If you’re going to investigate further, then please be smart about it. Be smart as to not get yourself caught, talk with Lio. He will be able to help you and maybe both of you won’t get hurt as you move down this path.”

The rock of concern rolled around in his gut, he clenched the edge of his shorts in his fists as he furrowed his brow. 

“Heris, are you leaving?”

Pursing her lips, Heris looked into Galo’s eyes. Searching, searching for what? Galo wondered what she saw, what she saw to make her have a melancholic smile. 

“Galo, know that I love you and I would want to do everything I can to protect you. But, my younger sister, Aina comes first and should anything happen to you… I won’t be able to jump in, okay?”

“Aina?”

For a brief moment, Galo had a flash of pink hair and a smaller hand in his. A hill of rolling green, a hill of _grass. The outside!_ He could almost feel the green tickling his toes, the sound of his laughter mixing with another one. More high pitched, _joyful._

Then it was gone like it didn’t even exist and Galo couldn’t remember. What was it, what was it?

“Galo?”

“I, I. Yes?”

Blinking, Galo watched as Heris swallowed before she reached for the arm that had the black band around his left wrist. She turned his hand over so that the bottom of his wrist was facing her and then she pressed her thumb against a circle in the middle. Galo blinked quickly as the band around his wrist snapped right off, exposing his bare wrist. A swell of red came from Galo’s skin and his eyes grew as he watched his blood escape his skin, becoming a small dome of red. Heris placed the new band on his wrist and he heard the click of it as it locked. 

“This is all I can do for you, Galo. It will give you access to places and files that give you answers to what you’re looking for.”

“How does it work?”

“You hold the band against the red light on any door or administrative locked computer. Once in, all you have to do is know where to look for your answers.”

Heris looked down at his hands in hers, he hadn't even noticed that he reached out to hold her hands. Heris' hands clenched around his for a brief moment before she looked back up at Galo and pressed a button on the wrist-band, the smile on her face happy, different, fake. 

“Time to eat to check if that hardened butter is room temperature now!”

Galo watched her as she spread the butter more freely, watched as she started to pour the batter before he was able to speak again. 

“I’m gonna take a shower, I feel so gross after so much crying from such a silly little nightmare! Plus, I’m meeting Lio today!”

He jumped off his chair and placed a hand on his hip while clenching his fist in the other. His signature pose, a pose that gave him a boost of confidence and knocked off the moping.

“The Great Galo Thymos always does and looks his best! I’ll be right back Heris!”

“Enjoy your shower, Galo!”

“I will!”

In the end, Biar never stopped by to take Galo to Lio’s room.

~~~~

The first time Galo used the black band was to access files on Lio, files that gave him an idea of where the boy would be at. From there, it was mostly being able to sneak in and out within a timely matter, avoiding the cameras, however, were pretty easy. Galo had previously befriended a rat and named him Vinny, the little rodent had a knack for understanding what Galo had wanted him to do. Though, he did feel a bit guilty for destroying property and having the electricians come back weekly to fix any broken wires.

He wouldn’t necessarily say that he was stalking Lio, but he certainly felt that way as he followed Lio into the restroom. Having kept a distance while he made sure the camera’s blue light flickered off as Vinny did his handy work. Galo pushed the restroom’s door opened and just as he was about to step in, his arm was grabbed and his world turned a complete one-eighty. A gasp of air left his lungs as his back hit the tile floor and felt a weight on his chest as knees pinned his arms down. Eyes squinted, he looked up to find Lio with his fist raised before it was lowered down again and confused eyes stared down at Galo.

“Galo?”

A huff of laughter escaped Galo’s lips, whether it was from the giddiness of finally hearing Lio’s voice or from the nervousness at the fact that he was taken down by someone a bit more petite in mass. He decided it would be a bit of both.

“Lio! Uh, think you can let me up?”

Galo cringed as he heard the high pitch of his voice and he cleared his throat before he continued to talk, pleased to find that his voice was now normal. 

“You sitting on my chest is making it hard to breathe and the impact of the tiles hitting my back isn’t helping either. Please, let me up.”

Lio instantly stood up and then snagged Galo’s wrist before dragging him into the larger stall at the end of the restroom, the door was slammed shut and locked. Galo opens his mouth to start, but his voice gets stuck in his throat as Lio turns to face him with a stormy look in his eyes.

“And just _what_ are you doing here? Don’t you know you can get in serious trouble if you’re seen being around this wing? I told you, I would find you! You can’t just race into these things head-first ever—.” 

A breath was released as Lio turned back around, his head in his hand. A hand that now had a leather glove covering the light skin, Galo looked at the one pressed against Lio’s hip, only to find a matching glove on that hand. Biting the inside of his cheek, Galo reached forward to grab Lio’s hand and with only a small pause of hesitation, he steeled himself and grabbed Lio’s hand. There was a small jump from Lio before he was turned around to face Galo, eyes wide as hands were placed on his shoulders. 

“I’m here because I want to help! Something is going on and I don’t know what exactly, but I know it has something to do with this place. I can’t do it alone and I need your help.” 

Galo ran a hand through his hair, frustration filled his veins again as the helplessness started to set in, the feeling of emptiness wrapping around his being like an unwelcome embrace. 

“I, I know I sound crazy and maybe I’m just making a dummy of myself bu-”

Lio’s hand covered Galo’s mouth and his eyes intently stared into Galo’s blue ones, a gentle smile on his lips. His other hand navigated Galo’s fingers to detangle them from the nest of blue hair wrapped around his hand. The warmth spreading across Galo’s cheeks was a vibrant shade of red as the emptiness dissolved into nothing and as the memory of a bouncing, bright flame-filled his thoughts. 

“I’ll help you, just promise me when we figure this out, we leave together.” 

_Together._

His memory hummed to him and Galo felt a familiar yet unknown heat to his chest, felt it travel to the hand clasped in Lio’s. They both looked at their hands as a colorful flame wrapped around their hands together. Their hands extended out so that their hands were pressed together, fingers to fingers and palm to palm. Galo noticed that Lio’s hands while smaller — they were long. Galo forced his eyes away from the fire— he should be scared but he’s not, he's _whole_ — and looked at Lio, only to notice that Lio had wet eyes.

“Lio?”

“How can you? It should be impossible in the facility.”

“What? Li—”

They both shut up as the door opened and the flame was extinguished, Galo began shivering and he ran his hands up and down his arms. 

“Boss?”

Lio held a finger to his lips as he met eyes with Galo and once he received a nod from Galo, he started to speak.

“Yes, Gueira?”

“You’ve been in here for a while, Boss. Meis and I were getting worried.”

“I needed to take a shit.”

Galo’s mouth dropped to make a perfect “o” as he stared at Lio with wide eyes, he saw as Lio clenched his jaw to stop from laughing.

“Do you want us to wait for you?”

“What? No, head back to the cells before anyone comes to investigate. I’ll head back in a few.”

“Yes, Boss!”

There was a shuffle of shoes against the tile as the bathroom’s door opened before it closed again.

“Galo, close your mouth. You’re going to let a fly in.”

“You cursed! You can’t curse, you’re a kid! Also, cells?”

Lio ignored the last question and Galo didn't know if should press it further, he didn't want to make Lio upset.

“Don’t call me a kid, we’re the same age. Actually, I’m probably older than you.”

“Oh yeah? When’s your birthday then?”

Lio smirked as he raised his eyebrows and crossed his arms as he faced Galo head-on.

“I’ll do you one better, bet I can guess your birthday.”

Galo narrowed his eyes and leaned back, crossing his arms too as he considered taking the bait or not. Releasing a huff of breath, he placed his hands on his hips and had a confident smile.

“Fine! The Great Galo Thymos never backs down from a challenge! When’s my birthday then Big Boss?”

Recrossing his arms, Galo leaned forward with a smug grin. Knowing there’s no way that Lio could begin to guess. 

“May 23rd.”

Except, he did guess.

Galo blinked a couple of times and Lio was already leaving the stall once he was able to steady himself again.

“Wait, wait, wait. That’s way too good to be a guess! There has to be another way that you might have known!”

The smile on Lio’s lips was one that held many secrets and Galo couldn’t help and wonder what else he knew. Lio’s shoulders shifted as he did a casual shrug, his hand reaching for the handle to the restroom door.

“Like I said Galo, it was a guess.”

“When’s yours?”

“April 10th.”

They both stared at each other before they began to stupidly grin. Galo didn’t know who started to laugh but he didn’t care, it felt safe. He felt like home.

“I have to go, Galo. Before anyone comes to look for me again. But, we’ll get to the bottom of this together.”

Lio held his fist up towards Galo and with no hesitation, Galo returned it with his grin in full blast.

“Yeah, we will!”

After a small puff of laughter and a nod, Lio slid out of the restroom leaving Galo alone. Once alone, Galo looked at his hands and his brow furrowed and tears swelled in his eyes again as the emptiness felt more pronounced.

“It’s so cold.”

~~~~

The computer screen light was bright in Galo’s eyes, he stared at the stationary arrow as it lingered near Galo’s file name. His fingers ached from clenching the edge of the computer desk. The anticipation was too much but now, they were loosened. They laid on his lap as numb as he felt.

Blank. 

Nothing at all aside from his name and age.

Galo rubbed hands against his eyes, maybe being tired was making him see things, maybe, maybe, maybe. It had to be. 

Only it wasn’t.

Everything that involved Galo was a blank slate.

Empty.

Like him.

He narrowed his eyes at the computer as if it was to blame for the lack of information before he shook his head and moved on from his file. Galo didn’t have time to mope for finding nothing in his file. For all he knew, this could mean they were getting close to being figured out and Galo didn't have the time to mope. As he scoured the facilities documents, he found that underneath the facility there was an underground tunnel system that connected to Wing D. An underground system that had been updated with everything else, because of course, why wouldn’t it be? Galo groaned, placing his head against the desk and pressed the ‘Print’ option. 

Now, he’s going to have to learn the utility cart’s route to get where they need to go and which pathways plus hallways, elevators, and doors to use to get to the area with a large, fan-looking thing. 

Ah, well, at least he’ll be able to trade his discoveries for whatever Lio found. Galo tapped the end of his pen against the table, frowning as he remembered something Lio had said. Lio mentioned it should be impossible in the building, the fire? His frown deepened, remembering that Lio’s bandaged arm was the left one — the one that had the black band around his wrist. Galo looked at the black band around his wrist then, he lifted his hands to the computer. To begin his research on the bands. At least he would have begun his search, but then he heard the beeping sound of the lock giving way. Galo quickly turned off the computer, slipped underneath the desk, and pulled in the chair completely. Why was anyone in the research lab _this_ late? 

With his hands clasped to his mouth, he waited.

Galo heard the clicking of heels as it approached closer to his hiding spot, he felt a bead of sweat slid down his temple. He curled closer to the back of the desk as purple heels came into view and a very familiar navy skirt.

“Sir, I don’t understand why you would think Galo would be here. He’s not.”

There was a brief pause as a murmur replied to what Biar had said, she exhaled quietly. Her impatience a telltale sign of what she thought about this search, this search for Galo. To say he was surprised would be a lie, he always figured that she didn’t quite like him and only dealt with him because Kray requested her to do so.

“I understand, Sir. However, we are cutting it very closely on time. You have an appointment in a couple of minutes with the scientists who wanted to partake in — yes. Yes. Yes, I am heading there already.”

Biar’s heels disappeared from Galo’s view as she walked away from his hiding spot. Galo heard the door open and close again, he waited until the clacking of her heels were completely gone. Pushing the chair back, he crawled back out into the open and peeked his head slightly above the desk itself before he made his way to the printer. He grabbed the copy of the map and he looked towards the computer biting his lip, it won’t save his searches. Right? A whine escaped Galo’s lips as he quickly ran back to the computer, turned it back on, and used the band to log in. Once his search history was completely deleted, he made his way back to the door and unlocked it. 

He poked his head out and scanned both ways then made a mad dash through the hallways in Wing C, making his way back to Wing A, and finally back to the elevator that would take him back to Kray’s condo. Galo leaned against the wall of the elevator until the elevator voice announced his arrival to Kray’s condo. Galo began his routine before bed and once he was completely done and the map plus other notes were hidden, he looked at the clock. _03:41 AM_. Ah, he’s gonna be tired tomorrow but that’s okay. They’ll be closer to figuring the truth with the information found and finally, Galo’s eyes slid closed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed this chapter and thank you for stopping by :)


	3. Because the Body Starts Remembering What the Brain Doesn't

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again! I'm back with the third chapter and this one is longer than the others. If you haven't noticed, I've been adding another chapter as I write because I didn't know how many chapters I needed (heh, whoops). So yeah, this story could potentially be in the double-digits for chapters instead of single. I hope you stick around with me throughout this journey either way!

Gueira and Meis were interesting. 

At least, that was what Galo thought even as they both crowded him and scrutinized him with intense eyes.

A week after the bathroom stall meeting the plan had grown in size, Lio asked if he could bring along Gueira and Meis to help the plan along. Galo saw no issue with this, it was the opposite. He started bringing them with him when they were further into their research of the underground routes and scheduling of the quads and carts that scouted the areas. Galo became excited at the thought of being able to meet people that Lio trusted. Lio suggested Galo bring whoever helped him with the cameras.

So, he did.

“Hey, why do you have a rat?”

Galo grinned as he held up Vinny in his hands so that both Gueira and Meis could see him.

“This is Vinny, he’s helped me out with the cameras! He knows the facility in and out.”

They both stared at him for a pause before they looked back at Lio before they looked back at Galo with raised eyebrows. 

Meis, quiet and intense, was the first one to look at Vinny closer before he rubbed his index finger under Vinny’s chin. Vinny lifted his head as his tail thumped against Galo’s hand. He let out a puff of laughter then smirked and looked at Galo.

“I reckon he sneaks into the vents and chews the wires or something?”

Vinny’s cheering was in a series of squeaks and Galo laughed quietly, rubbing the of his head with his free hand after putting Vinny on his right. 

“You caught me red-handed! He goes through the ventilation system of the facility and gnaws away at the wires. Rats are, after all, capable of a lot of things since they’re highly intelligent!”

“Why do you talk so weird?”

It was Gueira who had spoken, his hands shoved in his uniform short’s pockets with a scowl etched on his face.

“Gueira.”

Lio’s voice was stern, authoritative. It reminded Galo of how Kray sounded when he was getting updates on the projects to combat any disasters that could happen in Promepolis. But Lio wasn’t like him at all and Galo liked that.

“But, Boss, you can’t seriously be thinking of working with a kid who has his strings tied to that monster! Some of the Burnish adults keep getting taken away and they never come back. So, why is it that you’re doing this? Why are you helping “the mutated freaks”? Some sort of spy, ya punk?”

Gueira’s hand grabbed Galo’s shirt and hauled him forward, clenching the shirt from the front. And while they were the same height, Galo still felt small and intimidated. The alarms in his head rang as he tried to think of a way to defuse the situation. Vinny ran up his arm and hid in the hood of his uniform shirt, his squeaks were loud as he held onto the hood’s edge.

Meis looked between Galo and Gueira before he turned his eyes to look at Lio. His visible eyebrow was raised and he looked back at Galo then at Gueira. He spoke loud enough so that his voice reached out to the boys who were locked in an intense stare-down.

“Because he’s one of us. He’s Burnish.”

Galo felt his shirt being let go off and saw as Gueira instantly turned to Meis and Lio.

“What? There is no way in hell he is Burnish, he’s stupid and has a _rat_ as a friend!”

Galo’s cheeks reddened from embarrassment before he scowled. Throwing out any idea of trying to be a mediator, he grabbed Gueira’s arm and made him look at Galo again.

“Now, look who’s talking. The pot calling the kettle black!”

“Stop talking like that! What does that even mean?” 

His hand’s wrists were grabbed as Galo had them on Gueira’s shoulders and then shoved down.

“It means that you’re stupid, stupid!”

Both boys went for head-butt before a loud, sharp whistle cut through the noise in the hidden storage room. They both looked at Lio and Meis, who was putting his fingers down from his mouth. Meis was looking unimpressed, Lio more so as a storm threatened to come out of his pinkish-purple eyes. Galo coughed into his fist and looked down and Gueira also looked embarrassed from their outburst.

“I’m sorry Lio.”

“Sorry, Boss.”

Lio sighed as he ran his hand down his face before he sat down on a crate. His legs crossed as his ankle rested on his knee and arms crossed. Galo couldn’t help but snort quietly as he took in the image with Meis standing left next to him. Gueira soon taking his place to the right of Lio. All three looked at him curiously.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. You just reminded me of a prince with his generals by his side! I’m left with a lot of books, some of them are fantasy, so it just reminded me of that. Doesn’t help that they call you Boss, ey Big Boss?”

There was a twitch of Lio’s lips before it formed into a smirk. And he lifted a chin in a form of a challenge, but Galo didn’t know if he was being challenged. If he was, turning red as his heart thumped the strange rhythm was not a great response. 

“Maybe not a prince but a boss, definitely. Someone has to watch out for you boneheads. Which, we need to start discussing our plans already. Since Gueira and Galo now know each other as hot-heads, we need to talk about the plans.”

And they did, very thoroughly. However, they were still some things missing and now that Galo had an idea what Lio, Gueira, Meis, and the rest were called it would help with his search. He was going to find out more to bring, especially about the bands around their wrists. Meis and Lio thought he was Burnish, Gueira less so but it was there as a possibility. But Galo didn’t know if he was. If he was, then why was he with Kray? Why wasn’t he with the rest? What did Kray plan to do with him? What was he?

Galo felt a hand on his shoulder and he quickly looked at the hand. _Small palm, long fingers._

_Lio._

He met with Lio’s eyes and they walked together out of the storage room. 

“You guys go on ahead, I’m going to be with Galo for a bit.”

Both Meis and Gueira nodded, giving Galo a brief inquisitive look — at least, it looked that way to Galo — before they left.

The silence stretched around the boys as they walked together through the dusty halls. Galo, with his hands in his short’s pockets, tapped his finger against his leg before he broke the silence. 

“What are Burnish?”

“We’re people.”

“I know.”

“I know, you know, but others don’t.”

Lio’s voice came out in a snapping tone, leaving Galo stunned for a moment. He hadn’t noticed he stopped walking until he noticed Lio turning to look at him and waiting before he made his way back to Galo. He grimaced and his eyes were apologetic. 

“I’m sorry, Galo. It’s just, you know and understand. But others, they don’t. They see us as freaks over something we can’t control, the fire within us wants to burn. It sounds crazy, but sometimes I can hear a voice in my head. Chanting to burn, burn, _burn_.”

Galo watched as Lio lowered his eyes to look at his gloved hands. And since he’s met Lio, it’s the first time he’s witnessed him looking so lost. So, Galo did what he did best. He grabbed both of Lio’s hands and held them together in his own, Lio’s wide eyes met with his. His lips were parted as a shocked breath left his body.

“Then we’ll burn together! And we’ll save the Burnish together! With our burning souls combined, we’ll definitely protect everyone and burn brighter than ever!”

Pink colored Lio’s cheeks before he let out a loud laugh and embarrassment coiled around Galo but it was dwarfed by the pride swelling within him for making Lio laugh. Lio leaned forward to use his wrist to wipe a tear of laughter away from his pale eyelashes. His grin was brighter than ever before and took a couple of blinks before Galo responded in kind. He felt like he had just seen the sun, so warm. 

“Yeah, no shit!”

Galo gasped.

“Lio!”

Their laughter followed them until they parted ways with a promise to see each other the next day.

Once Galo sneaked into his bedroom, he remembered he hadn’t asked Lio if he was sure that Galo was Burnish. Groaning, he flopped onto his bed and exhaustion settled in his bones.

“Ah, I’ll ask him later.”

Except, later never really arrived.

~~~~

After some time, Galo had finally started to get along with Gueira and Meis. In their downtime, he would make robotic looking suits from cardboard and then showed it to them. They had liked them so much they asked him to help them make one of their own. Galo agreed to do so. Their mechas had come out looking fascinating in Galo’s opinion.

Gueira made his completely buffed with long arms and swelling muscles, at the end of the arms were large palms with clawed fingers. The legs matched with the rest of the body and connected to clawed feet. The face was protected by an ever-present smile with jagged fangs, on top of the helmet were two bull-like looking horns. Galo had ended up teasing him by asking if he put those on there because he was bull-headed. They wrestled around for a bit before they broke away laughing, playfully punching each other’s arms.

Meis on the other hand, his mecha was leaner than Gueira’s. While it also had long arms, it ended in sharp point with a jagged back. The mecha had smoother but still point-ended legs. Attached to its back, there were two spider or scorpion looking limbs but it still looked _epic_. Matching Gueira’s helmet, Meis’ mecha had the large grin with jagged fangs, only his only had one horn in the center. Meis and Galo had high-fived once it was complete, both impressed and glad how _epic_ it looked. 

Lio kept pushing his mecha creation further and further, said he would like to do his with Galo’s. Though, Galo didn’t have an idea of how he wanted his to look like so he would bring books to read with Lio during their lunch breaks of planning. Their backs rested against each other and when the other would want to share something in the book, they would flip the book upside-down and extend their arms around the other’s head. Even if Galo read most of the books already, it was like seeing them in a new light as Lio pointed things out and they would discuss it until they had to start their planning again. Promising to read more on their next break because it would be worth the wait.

Sometimes, all of them would go to the room made of windows that were located in Wing B to gaze at the stars. Galo snuck in snacks as they would lay beneath the windowed night sky. 

“One day, we’ll be able to do this lying on the grass. I miss the smell of grass, all this bullshit is gross.”

It was Gueira’s voice that had broken the silence this time and Galo repressed his scandalized gasp, he should be used to this. He really should but it was still shocking, either way, being able to call these people his friends was amazing. 

They were there as they looked through the newspaper clippings — why were they in these files? And why were there files locked under security that even Galo’s band couldn’t grant him access to? — regarding the Burnish. They read together about how the Burnish was the cause of something known as the Great World Burn, where multiple Burnish people couldn’t control their powers and succumbed into becoming a blazing inferno. Another clipping showed Kray as the Governor as the order to gather all Burnish was executed to protect people from Burnish abilities. 

“ _A hazard to themselves and others._ What a load of bull! People by then were already learning to control their powers. That doesn’t explain why the adults that are taken away never come back! They’re using us for something, we’re being herded like sheep while they keep us here under lock and key!”

Lio’s leather-gloved hand was in his hair, his fist curled around locks of soft hair.

“Let’s keep going.”

And they did, they read how Foresight Foundation created aids — _weapons_ — to gather the Burnish who resisted. Weapons infused with a sort of strong ice that could capture and hold Burnish flames. Read about how the Foresight Foundation convinced the government to fund a special team to take down a terrorist organization known as Mad Burnish.

Galo’s jaw clenched because no, no, Kray wouldn’t do that. He saved him, why would he hurt others? But, if he didn’t then why were the Burnish here for longer than they needed to be? The articles showed just how long this had been happening, by now, Kray should have come up with some other way to protect people _and_ Burnish. They could have made this a facility where they helped them control their powers instead of locking them up, _so why haven't they_?

_They’re using us for something._

Lio’s voice echoed in his head, but for what? What was Kray using them for?

A hand rested on his shoulder and he looked up to find himself meeting eyes with Meis, there was concern in his eye. Galo offered a weak but hesitant smile and the hand on his shoulder squeezed gently, comforting. 

Galo was able to access some of the files regarding how Wing B, the Burnish housing, was built to contain them. 

Except, it wasn’t housing at all. 

The Burnish were held in rooms that were freezing to keep them cold. There weren't any beds or any type of homey comfort for them and Galo felt a surge of anger. How could they? _How_? _Why_? He kept reading even as he heard Lio telling him to stop, but no, he had to. He had to know — had to, had to, had to.

The computer screen flickered off and he felt as the chair was turned around so that he was facing Lio. His hands were stiff on his lap as they clenched into tight fists. Galo felt tears burning his eyes as he held them back, Gueira always teased him playfully by saying he was a big baby. He felt as Lio’s hand rested on his fist, he felt them loosening. 

“Why?”

A quiet croaked whisper. A whisper Galo couldn’t believe belonged to him.

“Because the bands aren’t enough sometimes.”

His eyes flicked to Lio’s wrist, the band looked more and more like a cursed brand with each piece of information Galo found. It felt too tainted to belong on a wrist as delicate as Lio’s and he _hated_ it.

Lio told him what the bands did. He wanted to find out more but he understood the gist of it, he recalled the bandage around Lio’s arm. Galo learned that Lio was able to melt off his first band using his flames but then his arm had frozen from the inside out. He imagined how excruciating the pain was and in his heart, he felt how his hatred grew. Galo had never felt like this and he wasn’t alone anymore, he had friends who wanted to be around him.

It was bliss to Galo.

A bliss, Galo knew, that would end. He would get lost in thought of the what-ifs that came after their plan. What would happen? Would they remain friends? What if whatever was happening — which he had a gut feeling would be bad, he knew, he _knew_ — would make Lio and the others leave? He wanted to help, he sincerely did, but he didn’t want to lose the friends he had now. 

Galo didn’t want this to end, but if it did, he would be happy to have even experienced it.

~~~~

After a month, the plan was ready to go and they had most of the stuff they needed. All they needed to do is pick a day to execute the plan. Galo would need to look into Kray’s or Biar’s schedule. They would infiltrate into Wing D through the underground tunnels, which would lead them to the experimental room, and see what was the fan thing. 

“It looked like it wanted to rain, there was a nice breeze going around at least. Or at least, it felt like it when I passed an open window. Some people can be pretty careless.”

Galo hummed in agreement as he took a bite of the pizza before pulling it back and appreciated the cheese stretch before he bit it off. Handing the slice to Lio and dusted his hands to get rid of the crumbs. 

“Shouldn’t affect the plan since it’s underground.”

Galo tapped his finger against the map.

Lio was quiet for a bit as he bit off a slice of pizza before handing it back to Galo, he looked at their combined work. 

“Galo, you know, we have to leave. Whatever we find, we would have to go either way. They can’t keep us here, we’re human.”

“I know, you guys need to be somewhere safe.”

“ _We_ do.”

A leather-gloved hand rested on Galo’s.

“We deserve to be safe, Galo. That includes you too.”

Blue eyes met with pinkish-purple ones and he wanted to go. Galo has never wanted something like this so much before but it didn’t sit right with him. Wasn’t this what Galo wanted so then why did the rock of dread grow?

But he smiled, he smiled seemingly without worry and it was returned by one of the gentle grins that held a special place in Galo’s heart. He felt as he cheeks warmed and it only intensified as Lio leaned forward, resting his forehead against Galo’s.

He hadn’t realized he was holding his breath until he had to exhale then inhale again and when he spoke, it came out in a quiet croak.

“Lio?”

“My parents used to do this, I always wondered what it meant. But, now I know. Ever since meeting you.”

“I, I mean, we met just recently or, well, not recently. But, you know what I mean!”

Lio hummed but he didn’t know if it was in agreement because he couldn’t think. Not with Lio so close that he could see pretty eyelashes that looked so soft. He Couldn’t think as they slid up and showed equally pretty eyes. Wait, no. Isn’t ‘pretty’ only for girls? No, no, it wasn’t. Dr. Ardebit explained pretty could be for anyone. Why couldn’t he think straight? Was something wrong with him? Oh crap, oh crap, what’s wrong with him. He’s felt this before but when? _When_? 

_He couldn’t remember._

“Hey Boss, we’re ba— _oh_.”

Gueira spoke and was interrupted by the sound of a scuffle as Galo jumped causing both himself and Lio to knock heads loudly. Groaning, they both fell off their crate seats. He quivered as he held his head, he could see Lio doing the same. Galo looked up quickly, his face completely red and looked at the smirking and snickering duo to the side of them. Vinny rested on Gueira’s wild red mane and even he looked like he was smirking. Lio stood up brushing off any grime off his uniform and he helped Galo up. 

“Gueira, Meis.”

They both straightened up and looked at Lio, it distracted Galo enough to calm down. They reminded him of the dog videos he’s seen, he could already picture perked ears on both of their heads. He couldn’t help the snicker that escaped his mouth and he earned back some very telling glares before they looked back at Lio.

“We just need a day, which Galo will look into and get us the last piece we need. He’s going to get us the bands from scientists he knows works in Wing D and then we’ll have the clear to go.” 

They whooped and started the clean up their area, gathering up everything and making it look like no one has been squatting the storage room in Wing B. Galo noticed that Lio hadn’t let go of his hand even after he helped him off the floor, it filled him with warmth.

“Galo, after you send Vinny with your note on the schedule go to sleep. You look tired and we need you at your best.”

He felt tired after he dreamt of the multi-colored fire it has been in his dreams ever since. Galo’s nights were filled with lavenders, pastel blues, and lemon yellows as it colored his eyelids. And, as it left him cold in the mornings, even if he set the heater high enough to get scolded by Kray. But it was never enough and he didn’t have anything wrong as by what Dr. Ardebit told Kray and him. 

But Lio didn’t have to know this. Galo smiled and nodded his head.

“Aye, Aye Big Boss.”

~~~~

The night to execute the plan was sooner than Galo anticipated, as per Biar’s schedule. He sent Vinny with a small, scrolled paper stuffed inside a glass vial that was attached to Vinny’s back. It reminded Galo of a small backpack and he smiled as he sent Vinny on his way. Galo sneaked out of the condo, he did wonder how he hadn’t been caught but he assumed it had something to do with Dr. Ardebit. He snuck his way into where the showers for the scientists after being in the lab, he was proud to find that Dr. Heinz and Dr. Lupas were taking their showers. A routine they always did before leaving home.

They both showered together, Galo always wondered why.

Shrugging, Galo used his band to access the case where the bands were placed for holding. He replaced them with others that he swiped from the box that fell over when he _crashed_ with the delivery man. Galo felt guilty but it would have to do for now since both scientists were off tomorrow, he hoped they wouldn’t get in trouble. 

Galo returned to the condo and hoped tomorrow night would arrive quickly, because finally, finally they would have answers and have a clearer idea as to what was happening in this facility. 

Galo dreamed of rolling green hills and a familiar gloved hand in his.

~~~~

The day was a blur in Galo’s eyes, it moved so quickly it almost knocked him to his as— butt! Gueira, Meis, and Lio’s vocabulary seemed to have started to rub off on Galo.

They would be proud.

All of them stood together as they held watches in their hands _donated_ by their doctors and they synchronized the time, they would rely on that to get their plan moving. They had back up plans in case the first didn’t work, in case something fell through. But it wouldn’t, Galo felt it in his gut. It wouldn’t fall through this time because they had more help than before. His thoughts halted in his head.

This time?

More?

When?

Galo’s wrist was grabbed and he snapped out of his confusion, he looked at Lio then at Gueira and Meis who were looking at him with concern.

“Ready?”

“I, I. Yeah, I am.”

They all nodded, Galo gave Gueira and Meis the bands to access area. 

Lio didn’t need one, he was with Galo.

They all high fived and began their watches at the same time a second time just for good measure. Galo turned to the vent they had opened prior and let Vinny in.

“You got this bud!”

Vinny squeaked and nodded his head before disappearing as he ran into the vents. 

“We’ll see you both soon! And Galo, take care of Boss!” 

“Yeah, or risk getting your ass kicked!”

Meis and Gueira shouted over their shoulders as they ran to where they needed to be, not giving Galo time to respond as both Lio and he ran to their destination.

“They do know you can very much kick ass on your own, right?”

“Of course, they’re just like bro— did you just cuss?”

“What? Of course not!”

Galo’s lips twitched as he ran ahead, laughing as he heard Lio stutter after him.

An hour into the operation, Galo and Lio found themselves cramped in the back of a cart that Meis and Gueira had _found_ — “Don’t worry Galo, the driver is safe!” — for them before the next driver took them directly where they needed to go. Galo’s fingers tapped against his leg as they waited for the cart to stop. And once it did, Galo counted the seconds before he lifted the hood of the cargo and slowly scanned the area before he jumped out. Lio followed after him and they made their way to the elevator that would take them to the room with the fan machine. Galo looked around and spotted a ladder leading to a larger vent with bars in front of it that had tinfoil tied around it, he pointed it out to Lio. He nodded his head and they ran towards it, they began to climb it, and after they were secure they made sure they were out of sight. Galo took off the pack that rested on his back and brought out some binoculars, he watched the fan machine.

“There are two straps at the top and two at the bottom, I think there’s an interchangeable strap in the middle. Looks like it’s made to spin.”

Galo heard the scribbling sounds as Lio wrote down what he was saying. He looked up towards the ceiling and noticed there was a large, gray cylinder made out of some type of metal. 

“I think there’s a thing on the ceiling that would be lowered? It looks like it a cylinder with a glass window and protruding out from the side it looks like there’s a type of pipe that looks like it has jagged ends. They’re probably used to close the pipe — ah, Lio! They’re here.” 

Galo whispered the last part and he felt when Lio inched forward.

They watched as Biar, Kray, and Dr. Ardebit walked down the walkway protected by some type of shield. Galo tensed when he saw Dr. Ardebit, he felt his heart broke into pieces because whatever was going on she was a part of this. But she helped him, so why? Why? _Why_?

Aina, her younger sister. Whatever she was doing it was to protect her. From what? Kray? Burnish?

“Bring in the subject and lower the crane. Prepare inferno counter-action!” 

Kray’s voice boomed and they watched as the cylinder was lowered to face the fan. He heard as Lio sucked in a breath and he felt his fist clench up as they brought out a woman with unruly, brown hair. She looked hollow, too thin and pale. Her eyes were dull, unseeing as they wheeled her down the pathway. There were needles connected to her arm which had tubes that connected to a blue-liquid filled bag.

It was after they were done taking off the needles, that the woman started to struggle — to fight back as she hurled insults to Kray. Galo saw as color started to return to her skin, saw that even if she wanted to use her flames she couldn’t. The band was still on her wrist and as far as Lio knew, no one but him was able to still summon. Even then, Lio said he had a rough time to do so and only was able to on a high emotional outburst.

The men finally strapped her and Galo gelt sick to his stomach as he saw the woman held up by the bands on her wrists, waist, and ankles. He saw the tears fall from her eyes as she fruitlessly struggled more. Mere tugs at her straps.

“Start the cycle.”

Kray’s voice tore the silence, cold and booming.

A large hum filled the room as the machine powered up and began to spin.

“Drop the band.”

Galo and Lio saw as the black band around the woman’s wrist dropped to the ground, the machine and woman's noise mixed as the screams of pain began. 

Her world burned in rays of red, pink, and purple.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading, woo, it's getting intense. I had to cut this chapter here because it would have gotten lengthy. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Please don't hesitate to comment about your theories or something, I like talking to anyone who comments! But, I do respond late due to work so I'm sorry about that!
> 
> I hope you have a good night and thank you again for reading :)!


	4. And One Day it Will Become A Part of Him

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good morning! I am back once again with the fourth chapter of this fic! I wanted to get out asap because it goes along with chapter three. So, here it is and it's ripe for the taking. I hope you enjoy :)!

Galo stared at the group of people huddled on the protected walkway, the room was quiet now. The hum of the machine and the screams were gone, but he still heard them and saw the images burned into his brain. He squeezed his eyes shut willing for the images to go away. The image of the woman turning to ash as the cylinder machine took her flames away. He reopened them as he heard Kray bark out another order.

“Bring in the volunteer!”

A muscular man was brought out and placed in containment type of tube while the cylinder lowered further and placed the bouncing, tricolored flame in another containment. 

Galo swore he heard a small whisper as the fire was placed inside the containment, a small feeble whisper. So soft, he could have missed it if he wasn't watching so intently.

_Home, get me home._

_Cold, so cold, so cold._

_Alya?_

_Where, where, where?_

_Come back, please, so cold._

It hushed as the lid on top of the containment tube shut closed sealing the flame and the man, there was silence until there was a black hole that opened above the flame. The flame went through and for a moment, nothing happened. Then, a portal opened above the man and the flame shot down disappearing into him. A faint glow on his chest was the only indication of what they saw. 

Once the glow disappeared, the man looked at his hands and his voice echoed through speakers within the room.

“Hey, I think it wor—”

His words were cut short as a scream crackled through the speakers. Instead of red, purple, and pink the man’s flames were green, red, and purple. It swirled in the containment tube, pressing against the tube’s material.

Galo heard the voice again, only it screamed along with the man.

_Burn, burn, burn._

_Not home, not Ayla._

_Different, different, different._

_Need to reshape, need to change._

_Want Ayla, but don’t want to die._

_Not home, will need to survive._

_Ayla’s gone._

Galo listened to the flame’s voice before he heard a quiet sob from the flame then nothing as Dr. Ardebit’s shouted for inferno counter-action. White foam filled the containment and the flames dispersed before the foam lowered down exposing the man. He rested against the glass and chest puffed with breaths before his eyelids slid shut and went limp. 

“Take him with the others, it seems like the Promare accepted him as a host. Make sure to monitor him while he gains control over the flames. Let him rest for the meantime and make sure to have food prepared for him.”

Kray’s voice was calm, pleased and Galo felt the disgust grow in his gut. He felt as Lio trembled beside him, heard the drops of tears as they splattered against the metal. His hand clutched Galo’s and the grip was so strong it started to hurt. But he wouldn’t complain, not when he clutched Lio’s hand back. 

“Congratulations Dr. Ardebit, it seems as your theory was correct. With what you’re doing, it seems like Aina will have a safe future after all. Seeing as our soldiers will now be Burnish instead of vermin having the gift. Thanks to your intelligence, we will be able to control the world.”

Kray rested his hand on her shoulder and Galo muffled the sob that escaped his lips, he clenched his free hand into a tight fist. He hung his head and stared as his tears splattered against the metal. Heris thought of this? How could she? No, no, it can’t be. It doesn’t make sense!

But it did.

It did make sense and that fact caused Galo’s heart to crush.

“Governor, the ashes have been disposed and we are now looking into more candidates.”

“Well done, Biar. Come along, Dr. Ardebit. We have much to celebrate.”

The lights turned off and the doors slammed shut. After some minutes, the duo climbed down from the vent to the floor and they rushed to the elevator. The ride down was silent, Lio looked desolate as he leaned against the elevator wall. Galo felt the same way as he clenched his arms around his middle. 

“I’m going to get you, Gueira, Meis, and the others out of here. I won’t let this happen to you or them.”

Galo was prepared with the silence that followed because it was a tall claim, he knew this, what he wasn’t prepared for was the hand that tugged one of his arms away from his middle and interlocked their fingers. He gave a gentle squeeze to the smaller hand and it returned it albeit hesitantly. He would find a way.

He would.

He would save them.

~~~~

Lio told Gueira and Meis what they saw in Wing D.

The silence that followed was deafening and Galo squeezed his eyes closed, but he still saw the woman as she crumbled to nothing. Pictured her remains at the bottom of a garbage bin like she wasn’t human like she didn’t exist.

But, she was and she did.

Anger flared up within Galo at how inhumane all of this was, how wrong, how awful. It was too much and he hung his head, clutching it tightly between his hands. Maybe this way he could erase the memories if he squished his head into nothing, maybe this way he could erase the screams.

“Super-soldiers? That’s what we’re being used for? For a crazy asshole to rule the world? Are you serious?” 

Gueira’s voice snapped through his thoughts and he reopened his eyelids to look at Gueira pacing the room like a caged animal.

“We can’t stay here, we have to leave right now. They can’t just throw us away like we’re nothing! We exist too.”

Lio looked at Gueira and Meis, then he looked at Galo.

“We know Gueira, Galo and I are coming up with a plan to do that. Right, Galo?”

Galo nodded and he rubbed the back of his head, he felt small hands and feet land on his head and felt Vinny flop on his head. 

He stroked Vinny’s forehead, gently.

“I just need a couple of days to figure out our next move, sometimes they shut down the force-field around the facility for maintenance. But, when they do, they usually have guards surrounding the area.”

“A couple of _days_? Galo, we can’t let Kray _kill_ any more people! What is the hesitation that you’re having? Unless you still side with Kray?” 

Gueira stomped up to him and shoved his shoulder, Galo understood that Gueira was only doing this because he was hurt but he couldn’t stop the anger that flared within him.

“Are you serious? You’re not the only one that lost! I did too, I lost everything I’ve ever known because all of it was a _lie_! And you come at me like it's my fault? It might not be as a bigger scale as yours, but I still lost!”

He shoved Gueira’s hand away before he placed the heel of his palm against his temple, Galo felt the dull ache bloom.

“I need a couple of days because we can’t run headfirst into these things unless we want to get hurt and then what? We’d be useless to save anyone if we’re hurt. I’ll get started on a plan and I’ll send Vinny to you guys with updates.”

Galo left and no one followed. He hadn't expected them too, but it still hurt.

~~~~

Three days passed and Galo found himself slipping a piece of paper into the glass vial and he stroked under Vinny’s chin before he sent him along the way. 

He felt the bags under his eyes and he closed his eyes as he felt the thrum of restless energy. It felt like a beast inhabiting his body. A beast that couldn’t quite stretch out its limbs and turned every way. Galo let out a groan and was startled at how much it sounded like a growl, he went to the restroom to wash his face. The boy that looked back was one Galo didn’t recognize — he had dark bags under his eyes, his blue eyes looked dull and exhausted, and he wore a frown that felt permanently etched to his face. Galo found out that the maintenance fix wouldn’t be for another month but he was able to scrape up files about the field that surrounded the building. He found which wires powered the field and decided it would be best to leave during the night time to give them more cover to hide. Galo picked out different escape routes for them to escape and he felt his mood lift as the plan finally came together, bit by bit. Soon, soon they’d be free.

Except.

Galo hadn’t planned far ahead — stupid, so stupid, stupid, _stupid_ — because that night, he looked to the direction of the facility as he was outlining the pathways of other possible escape routes in his room, and saw Wing B in multi-colored flames. He saw the smoke as it blanketed the sky and blocked out any light the moon gave. Galo felt himself move before he gave it any thought, felt himself move to Kray's office and used his band to enter it. As he expected, it was empty and Galo shot out of Kray's room as he left the condo and into the elevator. Alarms blared as he exited, white walls colored red caused by the siren flashing its red lights. Galo ran to where Wing B's door would have been except it was melted and there were scorched marks. He followed the scorched trail to the outside where he didn't even need to use his band anymore, everything was melted.

And then he saw them, with Lio in front herding back a handful of Burnish. Galo saw the dried blood on Lio's arm, saw his teeth were chattering, saw the ice as it started to spread across both his arms. He saw, he saw, he saw.

Kray.

With a gun.

Pointed at Lio.

Galo acted before he thought and he felt a surge of red-hot anger as he slammed into Kray, grabbing the gun and flung it as far as he could. Away from Lio — away, away, away. Galo stood again this time he made sure he placed himself between the Burnish and Kray.

Kray stood up and Galo felt the anger that radiated off of him, saw it in his visible red eyes. Erie, red eyes that still seemed to glow, glow like embers in a settling fire. Galo swallowed and felt fear as it built in his gut, but the fear wasn't for him. No, it was at the thought of Kray hurting Lio, Gueira, Meis, and the Burnish. 

"Let them go Gov! You can't keep them here like animals, they're people too. We saw what you did to them and it's wrong!"

"Galo, stand down and possibly, after this, we can just forget this ever happened."

"Let them go first!"

Kray advanced on him and Galo took steps back quickly, but it didn't matter. He had longer legs than him, could cover more ground. Galo felt a hand wrapped around his throat and he clutched at Kray's hand, kicking his legs and trying to get leverage. But he couldn't, couldn't, couldn't.

He couldn't breathe.

Distinctly he heard Lio yell out his name before Kray dropped him and he fell to a heap on the ground, coughing. Galo felt his arms get hooked with others and felt as he was dragged away. He looked up to see Meis and Gueira at his sides. Both were running and hauling Galo along with them. He saw as men in Black armor ran to them. He heard a hoarse voice, realized it was his own, trying to warn them but it didn't matter as they were slammed to the ground.

Now that Galo could see a bit of his surroundings, he saw that Meis and Gueira used their flames to burn Kray for him to drop Galo. He saw as the fence around the facility began to drop just as Kray began to talk — the villains always do.

Vinny.

The smart bastard.

"You see, Galo, we're doing this for the greater good. Other parts of the world are starting witch-hunts to kill off the Burnish. But what we're doing is giving power to those who deserve it. Don't you wonder why you're here? Especially after you started snooping all over the place, it's because you're a murderer. You most of the people in your apartment complex when your powers manifested. Your parents gave up once they found out what a monster you were. You owe everything to me, I saved you and kept you safe from harm. I'm your Savior and I will be for many others once we finish our plan."

Galo felt sick, he felt the dizzying pressure form the armored man who was sneering down at him. He felt the anger that blistered within him as he saw more armored soldiers heading towards Lio and the others. Galo heard as Meis and Gueira struggled, only to get shoved down further into the ground by cackling assholes. He pictured the bouncing lavender, pastel blue, and lemon yellow flame. Galo called to go the flame, begged it to come to him. They only had one shot, he knew he would get the ice treatment. He was close to Kray and the armored giant on him. But that didn't matter because all he needed was his flame to respond. To help him save the others by burning.

 _Burn_.

_Burn._

_Burn._

**_Together._ **

The flames responded and he heard a roar. Galo realized that too came from him and he watched the shape form. A phoenix made of lavender, pastel blue, and lemon yellow raised from his body. At first, it hovered over him protectively before it used its wings to toss the other to armored men off Gueira and Meis then the one on him. It responded to him because it was his.

_His._

_His._

_His._

_He felt alive._

_He was alive._

_He was Burnish._

Without a second thought, he made the bird soar into Gueira and Meis then Lio and the rest, pushing them into the forest before the field shot back up. Galo felt a stabbing pain in the back of his head as he screamed, he felt it burning — burning, burning, burning. Not his flames, this was something else

"Galo!"

He briefly opened his eyes and met eyes with an intense pinkish-purple stare and he felt a sense of Deja Vu when he saw tears spilling out of those eyes. A voice croaked out of him, silence but be hoped Lio heard him.

"Run! Run Lio and don't look back! Hide!"

He saw as Lio ran towards the field — no, no you idiot, the other way — only to be pulled back by his generals. Mentally he laughed but only briefly, as Galo noticed they were crying too. He was glad they saw sense into leaving. 

Galo wished it was the last thing he saw, but it wasn't. It was Kray kicking him to his side with a face full of fury. Then, everything turned white as he felt so cold. So cold.

Freezing.

Numb.

 _Alone_.

~~~~

Heris entered the facility's medical wing and she arrived at the room where Galo was being kept in. She jumped as she saw Kray sitting next to his bed, his ankle rested on his knee and he flipped through papers. 

"I didn't know you would be here Governor."

He hummed, not bothering to look at her as she came further into the room. Her eyes drifted to Galo as he rested on the bed, his left arm was covered in bandages around his neck then up to his forehead. It pained her to see him like this, it made her sick.

It showed in her silence and the Governor didn't hold back his commentary.

"It's a shame really, we could have lost our prototype for the memory eraser that you implanted in his head. Though, your new design might work now that we don't have a pesky, Burnish child to remind him what he is. Really, I owe it to you Dr. Ardebit."

Heris clenched his fingers against the clipboard and narrowed her eyes at Kray. She collected her cool again before she responded.

"He might be back you know, I have a feeling he sent those two boys to find Galo before they were cornered. They could be back again with Lio. They always remeet no matter how much space you attempt to put in between the boys."

Kray tilted his head as he finally looked at her. He placed his paperwork on the bedside table as he rested his elbow on the arm against his chest. He rubbed his hand on his chin in mock consideration.

"Perhaps, but by then it would be too late as Galo would finally not have any recollection of them."

"He'll see the tapes. From that night."

A smile filled with cruelty curled on Kray's lips as he stood up and gathered his papers.

"Why, Dr. Ardebit, you don't seriously think you're the only one that can tamper with videos."

She felt a chill run down her back as he walked past her before he stopped at the doorway and before it opened he heard him call to her in a specific tone. Heris knew this tone, she's heard it countless times before. Never really at her but at the others who act out. Act out like her. She tensed up before he continued it.

"Be cautious as to not step out of line again, we wouldn't want Aina being attacked by a _rouge_ Burnish."

Heris heard the door slid open and then closed behind her before she walked to the seat and crumbled into it. She felt the tears as they slid down her cheeks. Heris scoffed, a rouge Burnside. More like a "rouge" Burnish soldier.

Her eyes slid to Galo and she reached forward, her hand rested on his hand giving it a gentle squeeze.

~~~~

Galo couldn't remember anything before the age of eleven. He couldn't remember what happened before he fell into a coma only to wake a couple of months later. Kray told him that a terrorist group by the name of Mad Burnish attacked the facility and took away innocent people within the building. They almost got him but the government-funded organization known as Freeze Force fought them off but Galo has a scar from the night now. He stared at the swirling pattern around his arm, he felt off but he didn't know why.

"Governor, may I get a medical sleeve for this?"

"Of course. I'll have Dr. Ardebit request one for you."

"Okay, thank you."

After some time, Galo was released and he went back to the condo with Governor Kray. His eyes wandered — searching, searching, searching. For what? It was like this for more time and Galo sometimes woke up with the feeling of someone calling his name. A boy with delicate eyelashes and wrists. 

Leather gloves.

And intense pinkish-purple eyes.

He usually forgot a couple of hours after waking up and sometimes, within himself, he felt a calling. But why? Why? 

_Why?_

The ache grew to be a part of him until Galo hardly noticed it was there, he stopped searching, and he stopped wandering.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to the chapter's end! The phoenix scene was the whole reason why I started to write this fic, it's just a headcanon that I had after watching the movie. Ah, to know what is going on but not the character of the story. As I was writing this, I was mumbling to myself that Galo better find out what's going on soon haha! Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the chapter and as always, thank you for reading ^^.


	5. So Their Fates Will Intertwine Again

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good evening! I'm back again with chapter five! I hope you enjoy and comment if you have any questions, I will respond as promptly as possible! Without further ado, here is chapter five!

Galo's dreams always had a constant changing feel to them and because of this, he always knew when he was dreaming. This was different, it was the same voice and what felt like different moments. It would repeat his voice with different tones and always came to an end with a panicked yell. Other times, he would get snippets of conversations and he couldn’t quite make sense of them. And very rarely, he would see images of a small boy and his face was always blurred in his dreams but Galo could tell what the boy was feeling.

_ Galo. _

_ Galo. _

_ My parents used to do this, I always wondered what it meant. But, now I know. Ever since meeting you. _

_ Galo. _

_ Galo. _

_ Come home. _

“Galo!”

His eyes snapped open as he stared into Aina’s eyes, her face filled with exasperation as she stared down at him. When she saw he was awake she leaned back and her arms were crossed, Galo could tell she was tapping her foot.

“You’re lucky I knew you wouldn’t wake up! Had you not woken up you would have missed the Governor’s speech. ‘Oh, don’t worry Aina’ he said, ‘I’ll be awake by then’ he said!” 

Galo watched her as she walked away, imitating his voice. He heard as she rumbled through his kitchen and he rubbed his face as he sat up.

“I was having a dream, I think. I don’t remember what it was though.”

Aina frowned, a curious look settled on her face as she put down the tub of butter on his counter and she tapped her fingers against the lid.

“You were saying someone’s name in your sleep. Though, I couldn’t quite catch what it was. No time for that though! You need to get showered, at least you had your uniform prepped up for today. Just this once, I’ll help with breakfast. Go get a shower, you still have soot in your hair from last night’s fire.”

He laughed as he stood up and went to his closet to grab a towel and a fresh set of underwear.

“Getting scorched is part of the job, Aina!”

Aina hummed quietly before she asked her next question. A question that took Galo by surprise.

“Don’t you get tired of working for the Governor _and_ Burning Rescue?”

Galo looked at the start white uniform with blue accents and the white slacks that go with it, the shoulder cape hung from the mirror. The gold pins sat on his bookshelf, along with the belt that held his gun. He met eyes with himself and noticed he had a frown before he smiled.

“No, it’s not a problem at all. My burning fire fighting soul can take it! Anyways, I’ll be right back!”

He made his way into his shower that was located to the right of the bedroom after the water warmed for a bit, he placed his dirty clothes in the hamper before he stepped into the shower.

The water darkened as he washed the soot from his hair, he watched it as it swirled down the drain. Galo tried to remember the dream but other than his name being repeated, he couldn’t remember what happened. 

“Nothing important, Galo, so let it go.” 

Galo narrowed his eyes before he shook his head and after some time, Galo finished his shower. After he died up, he went into his room and changed into the white uniform. Galo wrapped his hair into the towel and twisted to rest on top of his head so that his hair could dry while he ate. The kitchen carried the aroma of cooked eggs and melted cheese, he grabbed two glasses and served orange juice for Aina and him.

Aina looked at him and snickered quietly as she grabbed napkins. They finally made their way to the small kitchen table to the side of the cooking area. 

“What? It’s effective especially since one side is longer okay?”

“No, no. You’re right, you just remind me of a possible housewife.”

Galo and Aina both looked at each other before they cracked up and they sat on the chairs. The laughter died down as they ate, Galo turned on the TV to have some background noise. 

“The eggs are good, thanks for coming by Aina. You’ve always helped me out ever since I woke up again all those years ago and then I met the others, thanks to you. I make it sound like it was a century ago but it was just twelve years. How silly of me. How is Dr. Ardebit? I haven’t heard much from her ever since her promotion. It’s kind of lonely in the offices without seeing her walk by.”

“She’s good, I think. I haven’t heard much from her either, she always doing her stuff. Galo, are you okay? You seem nervous.”

Galo pushed the last of his eggs around his plate, he frowned at them. 

“I don’t know, I just feel off for some reason. I don’t know why and it only makes me notice it more. It’s highly upsetting, I guess.”

He sucked in a breath and exhaled it again, Galo continued because he knew it was almost time to go and Aina wouldn’t be able to question him more.

“You asked why I work for both Kray and Burning Rescue. The reason is that with all the paperwork Kray has me do when he’s out and the silence that accompanies it, it’s deafening.”

Gathering his plate and hers, after he noticed she was done too, he took a small glance at Aina who was giving him an analytic look. Galo’s eyes darted away and went back to the kitchen to place the dishes into the sink, once done he left to the bathroom and unwrapped his hair tossing the towel into the hamper. He quickly brushed through it before it stood back up in it’s usual, stubborn way. Galo slipped on the black knee-length socks and slipped on the white shoes at the front door where Aina was waiting for him. They both exited, said their good-byes and promised to see each other later at the station. Galo nodded to the driver parked outside of his apartment and stepped down the steps before he entered the car’s back seat.

He breathed out as he crossed his legs at the ankle and grabbed the tablet he always left in the car to go through some work, Galo needed the distraction while it lasted.

~~~~

The car parked and the door opened for him a couple of minutes after. As he was stepping out he crashed into a woman causing both of them to stumble. He caught her waist, apologies already coming out of his mouth.

Except.

She wasn’t a woman

It was a boy.

And Galo still had his hands around his waist — christ, his fingers almost basically touched — he quickly let go once he knew the other party was stable, he felt his cheeks heat as they met eyes.

Pinkish-purple eyes. _Intense_. 

“I, I’m so sorry, I wasn’t looking where I was going.”

The boy — man? — looked amused as he quirked his eyebrow and the edge of his lips tilted upward in a small smirk.

It felt familiar, all too familiar. He was sure he’s never met this boy before.

“It’s no problem, General Thymos. It happens to the best of us.”

Galo noticed as the boy was wearing _leather_ — it was too warm out for leather — with military-esque looking cords wrapped around his right shoulder, belts, zippers for days, and a cravat. He reminded Galo of a vampire in fantasy stories he's  read before.

“General Thymos.”

He looked away from the boy and to his driver who was standing at the top of the stairs.

“You’re going to be late, sir.”

“Ah, so I am. Thank you for reminding me.”

Blue eyes traveled to meet the boy’s eyes once more — they were pretty — and he offered the thousand-watt smile that he gave to the press.

“You have my apologies again, have a nice day!”

Galo quickly walked around the boy and it was only when he was halfway up the steps that he glanced back to notice two other lean boys flanking the other. Both of them also had some type of leather on them, all three watched as he went inside the building. Looking down, he noticed his left white-gloved hand clenching the tablet tightly.

_ Familiar, so familiar. _

Why?

~~~~

Governor Kray’s voice irked him and he didn’t understand why, he didn’t understand why he felt jittery as if bugs were crawling under his skin, he didn’t understand why he kept clenching his scarred arm at the wrist as the Governor listed off the advancements to contain the inferno terrorists, and he definitely didn’t understand why Vulcan — the bastard — was standing right next to him. 

He hated all of this, he would have preferred to have stayed with Burning Rescue rather than be here. Galo would rather be in Lucia’s office testing all of the new things she made rather than stepping up to the podium and explain what their forces under his control did. He’d rather be playing video games with Varys on the couch or trying to cook new recipes he’d found than be answering questions from reporters — they at least know they’re timed, unlike the paparazzi. Galo would rather be attempting to play chess with Remi even if he couldn’t still in one place rather than showing new technology that he created to aid Burnish burns. He’d rather be fixing up the rescue patrol car with Captain Ignis than be awarding medals to a-holes who didn’t deserve them. Galo would rather be with Aina trying out the copter and fixing its kinks rather than being hounded by the paparazzi.

He’d rather.

He’d rather.

Be home.

Even if the apartment didn’t feel like home.

Finally, the speech was over and Galo quickly escaped to the car.

Galo slid into the car and loosened the clip at his neck before he rested it against the seat. He felt his exhaustion as it chewed on his bones from the inside, he felt the restlessness as it slithered under his skin. Once he was back in his apartment he quickly changed out of the restraining uniform before he slipped on a black shirt and his red and yellow firefighting. He changed his shoes at the door to his boots and grabbed his motorcycle keys, once outside he slipped onto the seat. 

It felt familiar, it felt safe.

The motorcycle took off and headed in the direction that he knew like the back of his hand, his mind slipping into auto-drive as it took him to the frozen lake. He killed the engine of the bike before he flipped the kickstand and made his way to the lake. As he closed the distance between himself and the lake, he felt the restlessness ebb away slowly. Galo exhaled a long breath as he reached the edge of the frozen lake, he felt the chill but took comfort in it.

“Galo.”

He jumped slightly and looked over his shoulder to find Aina as she made her way down to him.

“Aina.”

She stopped next to him as she looked out to the frozen lake, surely she would feel the chill more with what she was wearing but she showed no indication of that.

“Or should I say General Thymos.”

Galo groaned as he rubbed his face, quiet laughter escaped his lips.

“Please, don’t. I heard too much of that while being hounded by reporters during the speech. It’s so exhausting.”

She hummed as she followed him onto the ice. They slid across it in a leisurely pace, the silence was comforting for. It always was whenever he was close with Burning Rescue, it felt like a different type of home.

“You were great Galo, I’m impressed with what you came up with. The aids and how your section advanced more towards helping people who get burnt by accident rather than ruthlessly capturing Burnish people who aren’t terrorists.”

“At least you are, Kray not so much. He wants to get me prepped up for taking his spot whenever he steps down in the many years from now. It’s like he never ages Aina, he looks the same as he did when I was eleven. It’s unsettling.”

Every time Galo pushed off in a different direction, she followed, she was speaking as she slipped. He reacted quickly as he grabbed her by the waist, she was tipping backward and to outsiders who didn’t know them, it would appear as they were about to kiss. There was a clicking of a camera shutter and it startled Galo enough to almost drop Aina, instead he set her up correctly. He huffed as he noticed leaves rustling, crossing his arms.

“Should we stop them?”

“It’s fine, it’s only a picture. But, we should be getting back now. It looks like it’s gotten la—”

The radio hanging from Aina’s belt crackled alive as Remi came through.

“Aina, are you there?”

“I’m here, what’s going on?”

“There’s a Burnish fire and we need all hands on deck. Captain Ignis said Galo could come too since he argued previously about it during the soot incident from last night. He’s only allowed to _observe_ from the truck. Said he could consider it training hours.”

“Send us the location and we’ll be there!”

“Got it, we’ll see you in a bit.”

Aina and Galo quickly made their way back to land before they slid back onto their motorbikes but before they could take off, they noticed a man tied to a tree. Both of them looked at each other curiously before Galo nodded her off so that she could go to Burning Rescue.

“I’ll meet you there, I just need to take this guy home. He looks scared out of his mind.”

She opened her mouth to protest before she nodded and took off on her bike. He looked back to the man raising an eyebrow, then he began untying him.

“You’re part of the paparazzi, I remember you. Is there a reason why you’re tied up sir?”

Galo’s shoulders were grabbed and the man went off.

“I’m sorry! It won’t happen again just don’t send that boy after me. He took my camera, if you could ask him to give it back I promise to leave you alone.”

“Boy? What boy?”

The man looked like he deflated and he looked close to tears, Galo rested a hand on his shoulder.

“Hey, hey. It’s okay, let’s get you home okay?”

He nodded and Galo helped him before he gave him a helmet and he made sure they were good to go before he took the man home. The man’s voice was quiet as he gave the directions and once they arrived at his place, he thanked Galo before turning. He stopped mid-turn and quickly looked at Galo with wide eyes, it was a struggle to keep his face still with how quickly the man turned to face him.

“You really don’t know him?”

Galo apologetically raised his eyebrows and shook his head.

“Oh, okay. General Thymos, please be careful out there.”

The man walked away and Galo blinked after the man before he looked at his phone, looked at the address and headed to the inferno.

~~~~

It was right to call it an inferno.

Galo felt the heat in from miles away and as he got closer it became sweltering. He hoisted himself into the fire truck as he neared to the monitors, he noticed the others have mostly gotten the captives. Except, he also noticed that there was still a person trapped. A woman in a lab-coat, she wailed as the thumped her fists against the steel door only to pull back, looking at her hands.

“She’s trapped, she can’t get out! Send me out there.”

Lucia looked at him she shook her head, Vinny also shook his head as he sat on her head.

“No can do, newbie. You know the Captain doesn’t like sending you especially since you’re still new to the team. You might have passed the test but your hours for training weren’t even minimum. And _no_ , testing the tech does not count as hours. The others would have to get her.”

Galo opened his mouth to protest before he closed it once Lucia mentioned the tech testing, he scowled as he looked at the radio.

Varys deep voice came through the radio.

“We can’t Lucia! We’re holding the building up as Aina gets the last of the employees out. Think of something.”

Galo gritted his teeth and he slipped on his jacket — he’s thankful he keeps forgetting it within the truck — and dumped a barrel of cooling-gel on himself before he tells Captain Ignis of his plan to launch himself into the building to rescue the girl.

There was a brief moment of silence before Captain Ignis’ voice came through the radio.

“Let him do it, Aina prepare to hover in order to catch him when he comes out. Remi, Varys hold out as long as you can to keep the building balanced. Lucia, be prepared to launch more cooling-gel. Galo, be careful.”

No one hesitated as they did what they were told.

He was launched after preparing himself and crashed through the window, ducking to roll before Galo jumped to his feet. 

Making quick work and deflecting any flames, he quickly got the door opened and he felt as the building shifted, he held his position telling the woman to back away, he pushed off quickly getting into the room like a dart. As the room started tilting, Galo wrapped the woman in his jacket, hoisted her up, and he crashed through another window. He felt the woman as she clutched to him and as she screamed as they fell before Aina’s copter caught them and delivered them to the safety of the ground. 

After Galo walked out of the rescue container attached to the copter, he placed the unconscious woman on the ground and gently shook her awake. He felt her as she started to regain consciousness, felt as she exploded into flames. Galo shoved himself back as he hissed making sure that Aina was out of the way of the flames. He felt as the flame licked at his arm and felt it as it turned his shirt to ash. He also felt when he and the woman were dumped with cooling-gel again. 

That was when he also noticed as three mechas seemed to have appeared out of nowhere and aimed to grab the woman, but he jumped in front of her and they stopped. They were hulking masses making Galo look up at them as he stood protectively in front of the woman.

The restlessness was back as he looked at the mechas and the familiarity feeling began to roll in his gut before he narrowed his eyes. He heard as Remi’s voice broke through the speaker again, the urgency thick within his tone.

“Galo, step down, that’s Mad Burnish! We’ve been trying to capture them for thirty years, that’s the top two generals and the leader. Wait for backup!”

“So, these are the arsonist terrorists setting everything on fire. If I let these guys go the shame would kill me! Come on Big Boss, take me on! Man to man!”

The one in the middle twitched at the name and they all looked at each other before they revved the vehicles they were on. Galo felt the middle mecha with three horns atop its helmet as it grabbed his waist and saw as the one with red accents grabbed the woman. 

“Galo!”

He saw as Aina ran to follow after them, her hand stretched out. Panicked etched on her face.

It was the last thing he saw before he was knocked out cold.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to the end of the chapter, I hope you enjoyed reading it! The reunion came sooner than I bargained for but I enjoyed writing it because it delved into Galo's head at the ripe of age of twenty-three. Chapter six is already in the works and will be updated as soon as I finish typing it and reading through it.
> 
> Also, I was planning on making Lio just a bit more flirtatious than he actually was mainly because the person of his affections is right there after a dozen years. What do you guys think? Yay or nay?
> 
> As always, thank you for stopping by :)!


	6. And Embers Start to Spark

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! I'm back again with chapter six. Later than usual, but I got stuck with cleaning day and the chapter was only halfway done because I got stuck on a part and augh! But it's up and here and I'm counting my lucky stars haha. So here is the chapter with, fuck it, some flirty Lio because I just wanted some flirty Lio. Hope you enjoy and thanks for stopping by ^^.

“We’re home.”

Home?

“Galo. We’re safe.”

Safe?

“Lio.”

Lio?

“Lio.”

What’s going on?

Galo knew he was dreaming, or he thought he was. The area around him was pitch black, he raised his hand and saw only black. Until he saw a bouncing light, he felt himself float towards the warmth. It was a flame, a colorful flame and it whispered his name. Whispered his name with familiarity and Galo wanted to hold it, hold the bright flame close to his chest because it felt like home. 

_ Warm. _

_ Warm. _

_ Home. _

_ Lio. _

Galo gasped awake and was met with darkness, his bed felt smaller than usual until he realized that the thing under his arm was not the body pillow on he had. It was another person, smaller than him and Galo found that he was holding the body tightly against his own before he flailed off the bed with a yelp. It felt hot, he felt hot, why was he hot? 

Feverish.

It hurts.

Hurts.

Galo pressed his face against the cold of the floor, it didn’t matter if it was dirty — it was fresh on his feverish body. As he opened his eyes the dirt on the unknown cement floor looked magnified and he swore he saw every particle as his breath blew out. Attempting to move made his whole body ache and he gave up as a whimpered sound escaped his lips. He closed his eyes as something shifted near him when he opened his eyes everything looked like blobs of color before he quickly shut his eyes again, a pained groan echoed around him.

Small palms and long fingers dug into his shoulders and they moved him to a sitting position, the movement made his head hurt — everything made it hurt. He groaned again as he pressed his hands against his head, he squeezed it tightly — he could feel his brain as it pounded against his skull. Galo felt the hands on his shoulders and he looked up to meet eyes with gorgeous purplish-pink eyes, they seemed so close but he knew they weren’t. Or maybe they were, he couldn’t tell anymore, he couldn’t tell what was up or down anymore. Galo closed his eyes again as reached for the hands on his shoulders and gripped the delicate wrists. 

_Familiar._

“It’s okay, the drug that they’ve been giving you through your band has been slowly burned out. You’re going through withdrawal right now. I won’t leave you, you’ll be okay. Galo.”

It hurts.

It hurts.

Drug?

It hurts so much.

“I know, it’ll be okay. Soon, you’ll remember and what you don't I’ll explain to you.”

Lio.

Lio.

Lio.

It hurts, make it stop. Make it stop. Please

Lio?

Who?

“Sh, I have you.”

Galo felt so much until he finally started to sink into darkness again and leaned into the warmth in front of him. And even if he was already sweltering, he leaned into the welcoming heat the other person provided.

~~~~

The room was one he recognized, however, the boy sitting on his bed was different from him. He was twirling the black band around his hands, his skin seemed to be living flames as it changed from lavender to pastel blue to lemon yellow before it would start the pattern again. The boy looked up as Galo approached his childhood bed, there was a confident look to his eyes as he leaned back and patted the empty spot next to him. He looked too much like Galo but there was still a difference and it made him wary to be around this boy.

“Who are you?”

The boy looked curiously at him and it felt like he looked deeply into his soul — it felt warm.

“I’m you, a you that you forgot existed. A you that is still waiting to be let out. When will you accept that I'm part of you, I wonder.”

“Part of me?”

The boy hummed as he made the black band he was twirling around his hands burst into flames, Galo watched the flames before he looked back to the boy. Finally, he decided to sit down next to the boy and he felt the warmth as the boy leaned against his arm.

“A few days have passed since the last time you’ve been awake. You should wake up soon. He's calling you.”

_ Wake up. _

_ Galo. _

_ Wake. _

_ Up. _

Galo’s eyes snapped open and he met eyes with pinkish-purple ones as they looked down at him, he felt the sweat that soaked into his shirt. Felt as droplets rolled down his skin, he looked at Lio with a knee on the bed leaning towards him with a cup that was pressed against his lips.

His instincts kicked in as he grabbed Lio’s wrists and heard as the cup smashed against the cement, but he didn’t care. He didn’t care about the boy beneath him, didn’t care if he could crush this boy. Galo wanted to, wanted to burn everything around him, wanted to end the boy beneath him. The want manifested in flickering flames as Galo tightened his hand around Lio’s wrists, it showed in the colors of lavender, pastel blue, and lemon yellow coloring Lio’s face. A face that was calm despite having his wrists pinned in a tight grip, he felt his lip curl. Too calm, he was too calm.

Galo didn’t want this, he didn’t want this flame.

But he did, he wanted it so bad and he wanted to burn — burn brighter than ever.

He didn’t want to hurt Lio, not Lio. Who was Lio? He didn't know, but he did. Galo knew who he was, it felt that way. It didn’t matter, he was a civilian and Galo saved civilians not hurt them. He loosened his grip around Lio’s wrists before he flopped on the bed and looked at Lio.

“Who are you?”

Even if he knew his name, he should still ask. Galo wanted to focus on everything and nothing at all, he wanted to feel anything and nothing. He didn't want to feel the want to burn, it frightened him beyond belief.

"I'm Lio Fotia."

He couldn't help the quiet laugh that escaped his lips.

"So formal."

"Oh, I'm sorry General Thymos."

Galo smiled at the sarcastic tone.

"Lio."

Galo could feel as his eyes started to drop as exhaustion started to take over, he could still feel the sweat that covered his body even under his clothes. The clothes were different and he had a shirt on now, they still were his clothes. They must have stolen some of his clothes.

Is it really stealing if it was already something he owned? 

Still, he felt gross.

He must have said that last bit out loud when a quiet huffed of laughter escaped Lio's lips.

"We'll get you a shower when the drug is out of your system. You've burned through most of it. It's impressive considering how many years it's been."

"How many days has it been?"

Galo knew he should have paused on the questions until he was able to comprehend more of what his surroundings, he knew. But, he liked Lio's voice.

He noticed as Lio's cheeks flushed and ah, he must have said that out loud.

"It's been three days or so while you've been burning the drug."

Humming quietly, Galo let his eyes shut and he felt as the dark wrapped itself around him, he felt the pull of sleep again.

"You forgot about me."

There was a brief silence and he didn't know if the voice he heard was real or something he dreamt in a sea of darkness.

_ I never would. _

Sleep pulled him under and he didn't know if he would ever wake up again but the warmth he felt made it seem like everything was going to be okay.

~~~~

This boy was sitting on top of what Galo thought to be the roof of the Foresight Foundation building. He was kicking his legs as he looked at the rising sun. Galo hesitated for a moment before he sat down next to the boy and watched the sunrise.

"Going on a full week, how long are you planning to rest?"

"I don't know, Lio says that I'm going to remember some stuff but I can't remember. Or more like I don't."

"He's not expecting you to do anything you know? I think he doesn't want you to hate him." 

"I don't hate him."

"But you don't like him either."

Galo stayed quiet as he leaned against his hands and when he spoke it was in a hushed whisper that shocked him.

"I don't remember how to. Kray didn't… approve of those types of relationships. Of any relationships really. Said they were just a hassle."

"You're not with Kray anymore and even if you don't remember now, it'll be like breathing when you do. You're not him, it's different for you"

"How are you so sure?"

The boy — the embodiment of what he assumed was his consciousness — looked at Galo with a gentle smile.

"Because I'm you. We're one of the same."

Galo nodded, he accepted this answer but still didn't know where to go from there.

"Would it be rude to ask where you came from?"

"You already know that you just need to remember."

Scowling, his arms crossed as he flopped onto his back. Then he ruffled one hand through his unruly hair, he felt impatient and as if time was ticking down.

"When will I remember?"

The boy hummed in consideration, his head tilted slightly up at the morning sun.

"I suppose when you're ready for the truth."

Galo opened his mouth to speak but he felt the pull of waking, pulling him towards the direction of something cool against his lips.

"No, no, wait! I'm still not done, there are more questions that I have!"

He watched as the world around him blurred before there was only a single focused point, the boy looked at him with apologetic eyes.

_ We'll talk soon Galo. _

~~~~

His eyes fluttered open and even if he was awake, exhaustion clung to his body. Attempting to sit up, he stopped as he felt an arm thrown over his — snatched, is what Lucia said when they first met — waist. Galo looked at the leather that was on the hand, attached to the hand was an arm covered with a frilly, white sleeve, he followed the arm to the shoulder, then met eyes with the owner of the arm. He recalled thinking they were pretty and intense, it still appeared to be that way even after waking. Though he noticed that sleep still lingered in the gaze too.

Galo coughed into his fist as he glanced away and noticed as Lio's leg was thrown over his thighs.

"The pyromaniac likes snuggling."

His eyes flicked back and caught Lio rolling his eyes before his eyelids shut closed again. Galo felt as Lio pulled him closer by his waist and hooked the heel of his foot behind Galo's knee. Lio was stronger than he appeared to be as he easily pulled him back to the bed. His face was pushed into the side of his chest.

The only reason why Galo hadn't pulled away was due to being caught off guard. 

Totally.

Definitely the only reason.

Not because the inferno terrorist caused some sort of feeling within Galo.

Not at all.

"Lio."

Galo was momentarily confused — well, even more so than he already was previously — as he zoned back to Lio saying his own name.

"What?"

"My name is Lio, don't forget it again."

He felt there was a deeper meaning to what Lio was saying but he couldn't pinpoint what it was.

"Okay, _Lio_. I remembered you promised an explanation."

"Later, I still want more sleep. It's four in the morning."

But Galo didn't know when later would come, he could freak out but that wouldn't get him any answers. He could wait but what if they torture planned for him? They wouldn't have done it by now if there was. Wouldn't they? He wouldn’t be sleeping with their leader. Oh christ on a pogo stick, he slept with their leader. What the fuck is going on?

"I can practically hear you thinking, stop. Close your eyes and sleep. You're gonna need it."

"You slept with your enemy, how are you so calm?"

Galo heard the smirk in Lio's voice as the hand against his waist tightened.

"Didn't even take me on a date first General Thymos. How scandalous."

He felt as his cheeks warmed and he gaped at Lio, who still had his eyes closed. Pale eyelashes rested against his cheeks and Galo held back the urge to touch them. Wondering if they were as soft as they appeared. 

"What about you? You're taking it very well. Do you always say what's on your mind?"

There was a certain accent to Lio's voice and he couldn't quite pinpoint what it was. It was barely there, he shouldn't be noticing these things but Galo found it difficult to ignore. He was intrigued by him, his curiosity only seemed to grow.

"I figured freaking out would give me the opposite effect, I thought it'd better be honest."

"So honest with the enemy, how interesting. I'll explain to you in the morning, you should sleep too while you still can."

It was the last thing Lio said before quiet snores dominated the silence in the room, Galo knew he could sneak out or at least leave this room. He could but didn't move, he was more curious as to why Lio simply left himself opened. Vulnerable. Galo could hurt him. 

He could.

But, he didn't. 

Instead, Galo let his eyelids close and he fell into an easy sleep.

~~~~

There was a gentle touch against his face, felt as the touch glided from his brow and down his cheek before it followed his jaw. It slid against the bottom of his lips before it slid back up his jaw and then it was gone before the touch appeared again against his nose. He didn't want to wake up, Galo wanted to keep feeling like he was a map to be explored. Then, the memories of the morning flitted through his memory and he sat up quickly, eyelids sliding opened and he looked at Lio. Who had a blanked face now but he caught the startled look before it was erased.

"Good morning."

Galo paused and nodded his head, words stuck in his throat. He was out of his element and he didn't know how to react. So he asked the one he did know what to ask.

"Explanation?"

Lio's eyebrows disappeared further into his hair, which was a feat because his bangs were long.

"So early? I'm impressed that you're very high functioning in the morning. Didn't take you to be a morning person General Thymos."

If Lio saw the way Galo twitched when his title slipped out of his lips, he didn't mention it. Which Galo was thankful for because he definitely was not ready to open that Pandora's box. He didn't think he'd ever be ready to go near that box or whatever box that included any curiosity or feelings on the enigma known as Lio Fotia.

Galo did notice as Lio's eyelids shut halfway as he regarded him and he started to feel wa— nope, no. Not going there. He cleared his throat as he looked away from Lio. 

"I just want to know why I'm here and what's going on." 

Lio hummed into consideration before he sat up too and looked at his socks. They were yellow. Galo thought it didn't fit with his outfit, he still found it interesting. From his peripherals, he noticed as the pale hair bounced and he assumed it was Lio nodding his head.

"Very well, we'll talk about what's going on."

"Don't you have to also be a leader for your group?"

"You know, you're giving me mixed messages here. But no, Gueira and Meis know what needs to be done. They are my top two generals after all."

Galo nodded, he didn't understand why he said that either. After all, he wanted to know what he was doing here and how he was going to leave.

"Okay, then continue."

"What do you remember?" 

"You mentioned a drug that was placed in me. At least, that's what you said in the beginning. Also, you mentioned that I was going through a type of withdrawal."

"Anything else?"

Galo did remember, he remembered the flames and he remembered the want. But he wasn't ready for that discussion. Admitting it meant that it was real, he couldn't do it. Not right now at least.

"No, that's it." 

Lio had a contemplative look. If he had a clue that Galo was lying, he didn't show it nor did he call him out on it.

"Okay. The band you had around your wrist was pumping a drug into you that helped a chip in your head restrained your memories. Gueira, Meis, and I burned the chip in your head as we've done it with the others."

"Drug? Chip? Okay, say I believed you. Who placed it there?"

"Kray Foresight."

There's visible disgust as Lio said the Governor's name and he saw it as he clenched his fist.

"What? No. Kray wouldn't do that. He wouldn't do something like that to people. He wouldn't do that to me. It would be against the whole point of saving me."

Galo knew that Governor Kray wasn't always the easiest to get along with. There would be moments when his smile would slip and the red of his eyes would show. He knew and sometimes it frightened him but Governor Kray wouldn't hurt someone for his gain. He wasn't a bad person.

"There's more and if you didn't like this bit, then you wouldn't like this one either. There's a containment facility surrounded by ice. It resembles a metal box that has only a few access points and those access points are only allowed by Freeze Force and some selected scientists."

The description of the containment facility rang a bell in Galo's head but no, that didn't make sense. It didn't make sense at all, he knew what Lio was talking about. He felt a rock of dread formed in his gut.

"Burnish, innocent people, are being taken into the facility. From what we gathered so far they are kept there for experimental purposes."

Galo felt like throwing up, he wanted Lio to stop. He didn't want to hear anymore because no, no it's not true.

"Galo?"

There was a darkness that surrounded Galo and for a moment, he believed that he went blind but no, he only closed his eyelids. When did he close them? When he reopened them, Lio was closer than before and he felt guilty because the look that was in his eyes was one of worry.

"I know what you're talking about. The containment area."

Lio leaned back, his eyes were narrowed as he took Galo in. He was trying to make sense of the sense, Galo knew this. Until he saw the moment it clicked in Lio's brain and his eyes narrowed more as a frown appeared on his lips.

"What do you mean Galo? How do you know about it?"

Swallowing thickly, Galo averted his gaze before it snapped back to Lio.

"I know about it because I helped build it."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whew, here it is! I hoped you like it and thank you for stopping by to read it.


	7. so Their Flames Start to Grow

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! I'm back again with chapter seven of this story (which seems like it's gonna be more than ten so hurray). This one is slightly longer but I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Honestly, writing this really makes time go by faster during work so it's great! Anyways, thank you for stopping by ^^!

The moment that Lio moved was a moment that captured Galo by surprise, one moment Lio was at his side the next he was on Galo’s lap. He wrapped both of his fists in his shirt before he slammed Galo’s back against the wall behind them. Galo felt the heat of Lio’s flames as they licked against the side of his face, they didn’t hurt but he couldn’t push down the flinch that came. A muscle in Lio’s jaw ticked as he clenched it before the flames were gone, but he was still left with an angry Lio who stared down at him with narrowed eyes. 

“What do you mean you _helped_ built it?”

“Wait, wait. Before you attempt to murder me and or kick my ass. You need to know that I didn’t help build the structure itself but I made the floor plans for it.”

Except, none of this made sense. The structure was one of the first things he did to progress through the Foresight Foundation company. He planned it out to impress Governor Kray when he was younger, to show him how smart he turned out to be. For this sole reason, Galo made plans for a prison structure for criminals.

“It doesn’t make sense though.”

Lio’s eyebrows furrowed, probably due to the confusion that Galo showed on his face. The grip on his shirt loosened a bit.

“What do you mean it doesn’t make sense?”

“It wasn’t built for Burnish, I planned it out for criminals. You know murderers, and the like that come up. And even then, it wasn’t supposed to be in the middle of nowhere surrounded by ice. Freeze Force shouldn’t even need to have access to it.”

The dread grew as Galo’s thought process clicked together. If Freeze Force did have access to it then they would be taking Burnish to a fortress made of ice basically and if he didn’t know about then the public wouldn’t either. If anyone knew about it and didn’t mention it, it was because of the discrimination that the Burnish faced. 

Galo swallowed as he remembered the way Vulcan dragged a woman out of a home and there was another Freeze Force personal that was pulling a screaming child. He remembered the way he grabbed the child out of the person’s hand and held onto the child as they sobbed into his shoulder. Galo had stood as tall as a fifteen-year-old could against armored men, told them to stop only to be punched across the face. He had angled his body to protect the child but it hadn’t mattered because the personal snagged the child back and spit at Galo’s feet before they put them in the black tanks. Galo remembered the tears that ran down his cheeks from both anger and pain, Kray lectured him in the evening as to not get in the way. Expecting comfort was something that was out of the question but it still stung when he watched Kray walk away to his office. 

“Galo?”

He blinked away the memory and looked back at Lio who had a worried expression, the hands on his shirt was completely gone only to have been moved to cup his face. 

“If what you say is true and Freeze Force is running the facility, then it’s not a good thing at all. I gave the plans of the facility to Kray, for him to decide what to do with it. There… I wasn’t expecting him to use it but it seems like he did. But Lio, you have to believe me when I say that it wasn’t supposed to hold Burnish.”

Galo leaned forward and captured the thing wrists connected to the hands cupping his face, he noticed as Lio’s eyes turned slightly wider. 

“I believe you, do you believe me?”

There was a pause of silence and while he did believe whatever Freeze Force was doing around a secluded containment area wasn’t any good, he still didn’t believe that it could be tied to Kray.

“I believe you when it comes to what Freeze Force is doing. But I still don’t think it would be connected to Kray. He wouldn’t hurt anyone, I’m proof of that!”

Lio scowled and he closed the remainder of space between them to the point where they almost touched foreheads. His eyes were narrowed and Galo tightened his grip on the wrist as he scowled back. 

“Exactly, you’re proof that he would hurt anyone. You need to start remembering because while I can tell you, you probably wouldn’t believe me. He has you wrapped around his finger and I’m going to prove to you that your loyalty belongs to someone worth it.”

Then Lio’s expression softened and he finally tapped his forehead against Galo’s. There was a sadness to his eyes as he met eyes with Galo’s blue, wide ones. There was a pull in his heart and he wanted to do everything he could to erase the sadness from Lio’s eyes. But he didn’t, he stopped breathing.

“Galo, you need to stop fighting who you are. You belong here, with us. Please remember sooner rather than later.”

Lio rubbed his nose against Galo’s and he knew, he knew that he turned tomato red. Only to shift to a darker red when he noticed the compromising position they were in. Galo quickly grabbed Lio’s small waist — don’t think about it, don’t focus on it Galo — before he lifted him easily and placed him to his side before he jumped up from the bed.

“I was promised a shower! Please, a shower would be phenomenal.”

Lio shifted to the edge of the bed, a smirk flirted with his lips as he placed his feet against the ground, his legs opened widely. He leaned back, his palms that were placed behind him kept him perched up. Galo couldn’t help as he took Lio in fully before he met eyes with Lio, he only seemed to appear even smugger. 

“Showers are down the hall, usually, most people shower together to save on water. But, I think you’ve had enough excitement for the morning. Right, General Thymos?”

“Call me Gay. I mean Galo, call me Galo. And, I would like to have some privacy. Please.”

Lio waved him off and he quickly opened the door, walking out. Before he turned back around and came back to Lio who raised an eyebrow.

“Clothes. Clean clothes?”

He pointed his chin to one side. Galo nodded his thanks as he grabbed new clothes and a towel before he walked back out. His heart quickening when he heard the chuckle coming from Lio’s room as he left it behind.

~~~~

Galo walked out of the shower and he toweled his hair, he should be shivering because the was as cold as he could make it but he felt warm. He recalled how Kray said the Burnish never get cold since their flames always kept them warm. Lifting his hands, he stared at them and didn’t notice a small teen running until they bumped against his legs. Eyelids blinking, he looked down at the teen who stared at him with wide eyes. Galo kneeled to be closer to their height.

“Hey kiddo, how are you?”

The teen looked at Galo with wide eyes and there was something about them that made him feel like he knew them.

“Rei. Where are you?”

Galo looked over their shoulder and then the teen followed as they saw a woman turned the corner and understood the reason why the teen looked familiar to him. He heard a gasp as the woman looked at him, she looked almost the same. Maybe just slightly older, not by much — just enough to remind him that eight years have passed.

“General Thymos.”

“Hello, ma’am. How are you?”

Standing, Galo noticed the woman’s tied sleeve where her right arm should be. Anger blistered within him as he remembered how Vulcan dragged her out of her home where she was hiding. He looked down at the teen and relief flowed in where the anger was rising. 

The teen was unscathed.

They weren’t hurt. 

Not that it excused what they had done to the woman but it would have killed him more to see the mother without her child. To know he couldn’t have saved the child from a fate they didn’t deserve. 

A fate no one deserved.

“I never quite thanked you for that time.”

“There is no need to do so, I wasn’t able to stop them either way. I should be apologizing, they hurt you. You shouldn’t have gone through something so traumatic. I’m sorry.”

She stared contemplatively at Galo before she walked forward and cupped his face gently with her left hand — the Burnish sure were touch orientated, maybe that’s why Lio wouldn’t stop touching him — he looked at her as he felt her thumb stroke his cheekbone. A gentle smile lifted her lips and she dropped her hand before taking a step back.

“You have nothing to apologize for General Thymos. You were a young boy, not much could have been done. Not long after we were caught, the Burnish leader at the time saved us. When the leader unfortunately passed, Lio took her place and we’ve been under his watch. To have you brought us here in this small haven of ours, he must have seen something in you. So, your apology is accepted but it’s not needed. In trade, I will give you my thanks and please accept it.”

Galo hadn’t cried in a while, the last time he did so was when he was slapped by Biar for having spewed nonsense when he was asking why he couldn’t leave to go outside and play with others, why he had to be doing some stupid project. 

The slap had caused his head to whip to the side and watched as she walked away saying he was being an annoyance and to work on his project. He had been fifteen and it was three months after he tried to stop Vulcan from capturing the woman and her child. Loneliness, anger, sadness, and frustration filled Galo to the brim and he felt as the tears dropped down his cheeks. It was that day where he swore to work towards something rather than cry or throw a fit over something that couldn’t be fixed by crying. 

He blinked away the memory and looked at the woman as he fought back the urge to cry. Galo cleared his throat to shove away the ball that was forming and he smiled his giant smile at the woman.

“Of course, thank you for your kind words. I accept your thank you and I’m glad to see that you’ve been taken care of.”

The teen poked from the side of the woman, their hands clenched at her dress. They quickly ran forward and hugged Galo around his waist before darting back behind the woman. Both the woman and he laughed quietly before they were on their way, waving back at him before disappearing down a staircase. Galo lowered his hand and narrowed his eyes as he looked at it, even if it made everything Galo has ever known become unhinged he would master his Burnish skill to protect these people. Especially from people like Vulcan and while he hoped — he sincerely did — Kray had nothing to do with this, if it came down to it he would fight against him too. 

~~~~

Lio wasn’t in the room and he wasn’t in the showers, Galo looked around the building and noticed it was a type of abandoned medical facility. When he looked out the window, he only became more confused as there was nothing around the building but woods, he frowned before he pulled himself back inside and continued his search. In total the building had five stories, not counting the basement below — which Lio wasn’t there either — and it was about an hour in that Galo gave up looking before asking a man that was coming out of one of the rooms.

“Oh, they’re probably getting food for us.”

Ah, that made sense.

He nodded his head towards the man, not knowing exactly what to do with himself. It must have shown on his face because the man smiled at him and he gestured Galo to follow him. The man went back into the room where at least a dozen of eyes stared back at Galo. 

Wide eyes. 

_Kid’s_ eyes.

Oh, biscuits.

Turns out the man was looking for someone that was usually next door so he could run a quick errand. 

Except, they weren’t there and the man was worried he would have to break a promise to kids for painting today. He asked Galo if he could watch the kids while he got supplies and while Galo rarely interacted with children much, there were some cases where Burning Rescue stopped by orphanages. Sometimes he would be able to go but most of the time he was doing a special social meeting with Governor Kray, he despised those. Galo looked at the kids in the room and blinked as he was met with puppy eyes, he felt the tug in his heart and he looked back at the man. 

“Sure, I can help.”

“Oh, thank you so much. I’ll be right back, I promise!”

Galo shook his head and smiled at the man while he waved his hand.

“Don’t worry! The Great Galo Thymos never backs down from a challenge!”

It was hours later that Galo Thymos found himself flopped onto his back panting as the kids pushed their brushes against his clothing and any exposed skin. Galo was used as a swing for the children as they clunch to his arms and he would lift them to spin them around. He found himself sharing their joy as they cheered and whooped, thinking he should this to the kids at the orphanage once he gets back to Promepolis. 

There was a pause at the thought and before he could delve into that he felt a wet brush almost go inside his nose, he yelped quietly and there was laughter from the little girl near his face. Galo gently grabbed the brush from the girl’s hand and her eyes grew when she felt the brush against the tip of her nose. She laughed again before she took the brush back and held it up as if it were a sword.

“Charge!”

All the kids jumped at Galo and were using the brushes wherever they could get to before there was a clearing of the throat and they halted their attack. Everyone looked to the doorway, except for Galo, who slowly sat up and met eyes with Lio. Who looked a bit winded for some odd reason and looked surprised to see Galo there, there was a pause as they watched each other. Then it was broken again by a guy with a wild, red mane who looked into the room before he cracked up when he looked at Galo.

“Holy shi— ow! Meis!”

“There are children, you know what Boss says about cussing in front of kids Gueira.”

“Ah, right. But, look at his face! Oh man, that’s great”

Gueira and Meis, Boss. 

These were the generals, but they didn’t look any older than how Lio looked. Interestingly, they seemed familiar too.

Lio looked at the teacher and offered a smile.

“Mr. Wren, we just wanted to notify you that food is being prepared.”

“Oh, of course! Thank you, sir. Everyone, what do we say to our guest?”

All the kids came together as they shouted their thanks and quickly scurried off to get everything cleaned up. Galo stood up and looked at his clothes. Well, the long-sleeved shirt would be alright even if paint splattered but his jeans were going to special treatment when he got the chance. He waited to the side as the children and Mr. Wren filed out of the room, they followed after the two generals who gave him a wave before they turned away. Using one of his paint-colored hands, he touched his face to assess the damage. Only to make it worse when the paint from his fingers rubbed against his face. Ah, well.

“You’re still here.”

Galo looked at Lio who was looking at him and there was a small smile on his face. He blinked before he raised an eyebrow and smirked at Lio.

“What? Think you’d get rid of me so soon Big Boss?”

Lio scoffed as he placed his hands on his hips and shook his head.

“Unbelievable, always ready to pick fights when asked a simple question. I was going to say, I’m surprised you didn’t run for the hills when you had a chance. Just surprised me that you were wandering around making friends.”

Shrugging, he walked alongside Lio as they headed to where the others were at.

“I was actually looking for you only to find out that you left me behind, how sad.”

There was a smirk on his face as he looked at Lio who opened his mouth to rebuttal only to close it and to elbow Galo’s side, a smile on his face. 

“Some of us have responsibilities you know. I can’t always babysit you. As much as I would like to constantly watch you, I can’t.”

A blush rose to his face as he looked at Lio who smirked in return. Galo coughed into his fist and he rubbed the back of his neck.

“Yeah? Well, you’re not hard on the eyes either.”

“Oh? I would offer you the whole experience but you’re going to have to take me out on a date first General Thymos. Even if you’ve already slept with me.”

Galo felt and arm linking with his and he couldn’t help the blush that reddened his face even more at the title.

“Don’t just say stuff like that! And just Galo is fine! No need for formality.”

Lio hummed as the smirk grew on his face, Galo could not help the thoughts that ran through his head before he shut that down as quick as he could.

“Really? It seemed like you enjoyed it.”

There was a huff of laughter as Galo’s jaw dropped and Lio slid his hand down his arm before it slipped into Galo’s hand. They made their way into what looked like a cafeteria and he looked around as people huddled all over the place, talking or laughing with others. He noticed how some of them had an injury that matched the woman he talked to before. Galo’s heart tightened and it reminded him of what he needed to speak with Lio and his generals. His whole being determined to stop the mistreatment of these people.

“Lio, later we need to talk.”

Galo noticed as he glanced at Lio who nodded his head.

“We’ll talk after we eat, I’m sure you’re hungry as well.”

At that precise moment, Galo’s stomach growled loudly enough for other people sitting on the ground turned to look at him with wide eyes. He laughed awkwardly and rubbed the back of his neck as he did so. 

“I can wait until everyone gets their serving, I need to wash my hands either way. Ah, where can I wash my hands?”

Lio nodded and lead him to the restrooms, or at least what would have been had it not been so run down.

“Don’t worry the plumbing does work. Soap in the green box.”

He nodded and lifted his sleeves before he began washing as much as the paint could. Galo felt eyes on him and he looked at Lio who focused on his left arm intently. Looking down, he noticed his scars. 

“Ah, I got them from a Burnish. Or at least I thought I did, but now it doesn’t make sense.”

Galo looked down at the scars littering his skin before he focused back on the task at hand and continued to wash his hands. After he finished, he shook his hand dried and walked to Lio. They looked at each other for a moment and Galo noticed a lost look in his eyes. 

While he was taking care of the kids he noticed a girl who started to sob over tripping and before he could go comfort her another little girl went up to the crying girl. She wiped the other’s tears and pressed her forehead against the other, once they touched forehead there was a humming sound. 

He was moving before he could stop himself and lifted Lio’s chin, he hesitated for a moment before he closed his eyes and tapped his forehead against Lio’s; humming a quiet tune Galo brushed his nose against Lio’s, lips so close before he pulled away slowly reopening his eyes and watched as the other’s eyes slowly opened. He swore he could see the cosmos in Lio’s eyes and it was at that moment, he knew future Galo would be in trouble.

“I. Hm. I saw that you guys do, uh, that to comfort. Or just in general touching.”

Lio hummed in agreement.

“We do.”

He looked like he wanted to lean up again when there was a clearing of the throat, they pushed away from each other. Both were sported a bright red blush against their cheeks as they came face to face with Lio’s generals. Gueira and Meis both smirked as they looked at Lio and Galo, Meis’ hands rested on his hips while Gueira’s arms were crossed.

“We just wanted to let you guys know that we can get food now. Didn’t mean to interrupt anything.”

Meis’ voice was soft-spoken but it still carried with confidence, while Geuira was thundering he had a certain charisma to it. Galo noticed there was a tattoo around Gueira’s left and a matching one Mei’s left shoulder. He briefly wondered if it was because they were friends or more. 

“Then we should go to eat. Thank you, Meis, Gueira. We’ll be there in a bit.”

There was a certain tone to Lio’s voice and both boys jumped as they laughed before they saluted and darted off. Galo wondered what just happened before they looked down and saw a stormy look in Lio’s eyes but there was a definite pout on his lips. 

“You’re pouting.”

Ah, he messed up because the moment he finished the sentence pinkish-purple eyes whipped around to meet his. They were narrowed down and Galo lifted his hands in a calming motion.

“Okay, okay. You’re not pouting, we should go eat. Lead the way Big Boss.”

And Lio did, Galo followed without question.

~~~~

“I want to break into the holding facility.”

Galo stood in front of Lio, Meis, and Gueira within their meeting room which looked like it had previously been an x-ray room in the medical facility. He was facing them — mainly Lio who sat in the middle with his legs spread wide — Galo attempted his best not to be distracted, counting sheep helped immensely even before bed. 

“I figured that’s what we were already doing?”

Tilting his head, he looked at them and blinked a couple of times before he responded with a grin.

“Great! I remember how I designed the facility.”

“ _We_ are going, Galo. You are staying here.”

Lio’s voice cut through as he rested his cheek against his fist, his gaze unwavering as he looked at Galo.

“What? Why would I need to stay here Lio? I need to go, I need to see what’s happening.”

There was a scowl on his face now as he narrowed his eyes at Galo.

“Why do you need to go, why do you need to see? You would only slow us down.”

“No, I wouldn’t. I can help, why won’t you let me help?”

“Because you’re human! Can you do this?”

Galo looked down at Lio with his arms crossed and Lio had his hand slightly curled as violet and blue flames wrapped around his hand. His voice carried a challenging voice and Galo knew what he was trying to bait him to say but while he would say it eventually, he didn’t enjoy being tricked into admitting it. At some point, they stood and were facing each other head-on. 

“A better question would be, if I’m human why did you bring me here Big Boss?”

They stared for a moment at each other until they were both relaxed and huffing out a breath.

“Lio, I’m Burnish too. I just need some time to learn control.”

“You wouldn’t have much time to do so.”

“With you as a teacher, I’m sure I’m going to be able to do almost everything you can.”

“Oh? Who said I was going to teach you?”

Galo smirked and raised his chin in a challenge to match his tone.

“‘Cause you can’t just stay away from me. You mentioned you would offer me the whole experience if I took you on a date. How about it Big Boss? A sparring date? I don’t get naked just for fun, you know.”

Over Lio’s shoulder, Galo noticed Meis and Gueira both giving him thumbs-up and it only gave him more satisfaction when he noticed how red Lio was before he mumbled out a response. His hand was pushed into his pale hair as he clutched a fistful of it.

“What?”

“I said fine, dammit!”

Three woots came from the meeting room and a loud smack soon followed but if someone looked into the room, they would see four men laughing together like they were old friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to the end of the chapter! I hope you enjoyed reading the chapter! Per always, any questions don't hesitate to ask! I will answer as promptly if possible. Thank you for reading and staying along for the trip <3 I hope you have a good morning, afternoon, or evening ^^.


	8. Until They're Two Beautiful, Blinding Sunrises

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! As promised, chapter eight! Woo, this one made me feel a couple of times (to be fair though, I'm a /major/ feely-baby). There are some instances of child abuse so please be aware, uh closer to the end two songs helped power me through some scenes.
> 
> Guillotine - Jon Bellion  
> Work Song - Hozier
> 
> Can you guess which part belongs to the songs :P?

Lio's training was brutal. Galo figured this would have been the case since the lack of time they have. Waking at the crack of dawn Galo was fine with, learning breathing techniques was easy enough, sitting for hours on trying to summon using focus was doable, even being tossed around by a gigantic — and oddly attractive, but Galo wasn't ready to touch base on that thought — mecha was fine. But, none of it mattered.

It didn't matter since whatever he did, it didn't help Galo summon. No matter how early he woke up, no matter how much he practiced his breathing, no matter how much he was tossed around in mock fights, and no matter his focus the flames just wouldn't answer. Both Lio and him were becoming impatient with no results and since they both felt each other's impatience, it grew. And it clung to them like an unwanted cloak until Galo snapped.

They were a week and a half into the training and they were in the middle of a clearing that had been used in prior training as told by the scorch marks. He felt shame and embarrassment for not being able to summon the smallest of flames and those emotions finally burst as Galo snapped at Lio for something small. Insignificant. Of all things it could have been over, it was the sound of Lio's breathing as he leaned against a tree trunk. 

"Can't you stand somewhere else? Please?"

"I need to be here in case your control goes haywire."

"You don't have to be here right now, Lio, please just go."

He couldn't focus, he couldn't think. Galo could just feel as the anger started to build up but he didn't like feeling like this. He didn't want to think about it, didn't want to feel it.

"Why do you want me to leave?"

"I can't focus with you here. Lio, please I'm getting irritated. Can you just leave?"

Galo couldn't hold back the tone in his voice, couldn't hold back the anger. How had he done this before? How was he able to reel in whatever he felt? Galo couldn't remember, he didn't want to remember. Why couldn't Lio just listen to him and leave? Why couldn't he call upon the fire? Why? 

_Why?_

Make it go away, he just wanted it all to go away. 

"Why can't you focus Galo? We've been doing this for a week already! It's close to being two weeks already."

Shut up. Shut up.

The irritation in Lio's voice matched the growing heat within Galo. It started to push at his seams, it started to drag its nails against walls.

Shut up.

"People are getting hurt while we stand by! And I know it’s not your fault Galo, you can’t help it but we are on a crunch. At most, we had two weeks but we’re already almost done with the second. Meis, Gueira, and I can go, just let us do it, Galo! What's holding you back? Why can't you do it right Galo!"

Lio's voice blended — he knew he didn’t say it, he knew but he couldn’t stop the memory — with a memory that Galo didn't know he had. He was a kid, he was nine and before him loomed Governor Kray. Galo looked to the side and there was a struggling Lio except he was smaller. He was wearing a white uniform from the Foundation. 

That's not right, Lio was never there. He would have remembered, he would have remembered someone like Lio. Galo's eyes snapped back to Kray as he advanced. He was no longer watching it happen from the first-person perspective, no, now he watched from the sidelines as Kray picked up the younger Galo up by his hair.

The pain he felt was too real, but no. This couldn't be real, he couldn't remember this. But he knew it was real even if he couldn't believe it because why would he imagine his hero as someone villainous? 

"Attempting to escape again Galo? You never learn do you, Lio always pulls you into these little schemes. Your judgment has been clouded again, it's time to fix you."

Kray looked towards the person holding Lio before he continued.

"Put Lio in the isolation cell. The furthest in Wing B."

"Let him go, Kray! Let him go!"

Galo watched as his younger self managed to put a scuff on Kray's pristine, white suit with his dirty shoes. And he watched as a dark look possessed Kray’s face, he's only ever remembered seeing that look during lectures directed at disobedient employees. Shock took over his body as he watched Kray slam younger Galo on the ground and watched in horror as the small body bounced once before landing on his back. Galo heard the screams of younger Lio, the screams of his name in panic. The ache started to set on Galo's actual body, it hurt so damn bad.

"Honestly Galo, this whole thing is becoming tiresome. Clearly, this boy has rubbed off on you the wrong way."

Shut up. Shut up! Shut up!

"Fuck you."

The red eyes that peered at younger Galo seemed to darken as Kray pressed a foot against Galo's chest and pressed.

"Why can't you do anything right Galo?"

Shut up! Shut up!

_Shut up!_

**_Crack_ **

The sound a rib echoed through the room

The sound of a twig snapping brought Galo back to the present.

"Shut up Kray!"

Galo roared as he stood up and faced the now Lio who looked shocked as he took a step back. Before he stood a step forward again but rather showing anger in his eyes, there was only worry. But Galo deserved the anger — no, he wanted the anger because why should he alone feel it? It would have made things so much easier, it would have meant he could — he could... 

He could what?

Reciprocate it and hurt Lio?

How could he even think that way? The thought of hurting anyone made him sick but the thought of hurting Lio _gutted_ him.

The anger he felt evaporated and his shoulders sagged. Like a puppet snipped from its ties, he felt himself as he fell to his knees and he felt the tears hit his hands. Galo heard the sobs that came out of his mouth, as memories of pain drowned him. The memories of abuse that he was forced to forget, the abuse that he pardoned because he thought it was fine and he deserved it. The abuse that he accepted because it was better than being alone. Even if he knew he didn't deserve any of it, he deserved more than what was given to him, it made it easier to forget when he was praised more when he started to listen.

There was only darkness that Galo could see in his mind's eye but he could see darkness too. He felt thin arms as they wrapped around his neck and be felt leather-covered hands as they stroked the back of his head. His tears were caressed away and Galo felt a gentle, soft kiss placed against his eyelids. So soft it was hard to believe it even happened, but Galo slowly opened his eyes — when had he closed them? — and met eyes with an equally teary-eyed Lio.

"You're crying, I'm sorry Lio. I didn't mean to make you cry, I didn't mean to call you Kray. You're not like him alone, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

Galo tried to reel in his emotions, he needed to comfort Lio. He had to make him feel he ha—

"This isn't about me Galo, this is about you. Let yourself cry, it's okay to feel. Let it go, I'm here. Let me comfort you."

The want to rebuttal was strong but the need to be comforted was stronger as he let himself finally cry. As he let himself be pulled into a tight hug. As he felt walls crumbling down and in his mind's eye saw the lonely, flickering flame. 

He cooed at it quietly.

You're not alone anymore.

We're together now.

**_Together._ **

He heard the response sighed back to him and Galo felt he was home. 

~~~~

Things were different.

Things were different in the way that memories, moments, experiences flowed through him now with the seal on his mind broken. His subconscious would bring some memories back as nightmares and it started small enough that he would be able to jolt himself awake. 

But.

It worsened to the point where he would be forced to relive it all and whenever he would close his eyes to sleep, dread grew in Galo’s gut. He was going days without sleep and Galo hated it because he _loved_ to sleep. And it made his reaction times slow. It had been two days after the clearing incident came back and they were three days away from infiltrating the facility. All he wanted was a break, but of course, it wouldn’t happen.

That night was no different and the nightmare came in the form of labs and shouts.

There was silence for the moment, it was dark and Galo could tell that he was strapped onto something cold. His limbs were stretched out and he could feel the dread that built up in younger Galo's stomach. He wanted to vomit, he was frightened beyond belief. What was going on? Where was he? Where was Kray? A flinch ran through his small body as bright lights snapped on, he looked at the side blinking a couple of times to get used to the lights before he looked around. 

Galo was strapped to something gigantic in size, it was a machine and he saw a large cylinder machine being lowered down in front of him. He knew this machine, how did he know this machine? On the observation deck, he saw a large shadowed man and a small woman as she spoke to the large man. 

“Sir, he’s just a child. We can’t do this. This is wrong!”

Heris?

“His Promare would more convenient is someone useful.”

“The press will notice if the boy you saved suddenly goes missing! You can’t do this Governor, please stop!”

“Notice? How absurd. They won’t notice if the boy is overseas, in a prestigious school away from here. Paid by me, of course, he is my ward now after all. Now, quiet down Dr. Ardebit. Start the process!”

“You just can’t do a cover-up Governor!”

“I said silence Dr. Ardebit, I will do what I please. That extends to your younger sister. Now start the process!”

Heris was quiet immediately after

Overseas?

School?

A cover-up? 

Process?

Air whooshed through his hair as his world began to spin, as he felt the pull in his chest. Galo started to feel sick as his flames were forcibly pulled out, he didn’t want this. He wanted to stop, make it stop. Make it stop, please, please, _please_. The walls were painted in his flames as they were gathered to make a dark circle in front of him. No, stop. Please, please, please. He didn’t want any of this. He felt as something entered the portal and he felt as though something was being pulled from within him. Were those screams his? Were they? Why was this happening to him? He didn’t want this, that flame was his own. Give it back, give it back.

Give.

It.

Back.

Flames exploded out of the portal and it slashed through the room in a long arc as it sliced cleanly through the crane, through the protective glass, through the system that ran the machine. Galo heard screams but he didn’t care, no, all he wanted to do was to burn everything down and he wanted to burn, burn, burn. Everything stopped and the portal disappeared into nothing as Galo slumped against his restraints, he felt as the exhaustion began to set in his bones. Kray’s voice boomed through the room and it made his hurt more, but he needed to run. He needed to escape. He needed it, he needed it. He needed.

“Seems like you’ll be getting your wish Dr. Ardebit. Now we can test that memory prototype you’ve created. Take Galo…”

“Galo!”

Gasping, his eyes snapped open to meet the pinkish-purple eyes that were in front of him. Lio, it was Lio. They were on watch, he fell asleep on the watch. Of all the time to fall asleep, it had to be on the watch. Then he noticed the burnt smell surrounding them, noticed the slice from the ground to the toppled trees, and through a sliced boulder. Oh fu… Galo quickly looked at Lio, he could see his fear reflected in his eyes. He buried his face against his hands as he felt the hot burn of tears welling around them. 

“I’m sorry Lio.”

So quiet, why was his voice just a whisper? He could have sworn it came out louder, it should have been louder. 

“It’s okay Galo. It was an accident, you didn’t do it on purpose. Do you want to talk about it?”

“It doesn’t matter if I did it on purpose or not Lio! I could have still hurt you! And what is there to talk about? Talking won’t fix this, talking won’t fix me!”

Why was he angry? Why was he frustrated? Why was he feeling all of this? He didn’t want these emotions, he wanted them to go away.

“Don’t you understand Lio? They messed with my head, they made me forget things that I lived through. I was treated like a toy that could be reset when something was wrong with it and you want to know what’s twice as bad? I wish some of it was something I could forget. But I can’t, it won’t go away, the memories come in nightmares and I can’t sleep. Why can’t the memories that made me happy come too? Why can’t I dream of you?”

There was a pause before Galo continued in a small whisper as he stared at his trembling hands.

“Why can’t I be fixed?”

Black, leather boots appeared in his vision and a memory of white shoes separated by a clear glass flitted through his head before he looked up. He expected the glass to be there even if he knew it wouldn’t be, Galo expected to feel glass separating them when he reached out to Lio instinctively even if he knew there wouldn’t be. Galo didn’t expect the warm — ungloved, when did he take off his gloves? — scarred hands to slide into his own. Lio’s scars matched the ones on Galo’s unsleeved arm, they were swirling and red. They were caused by the ice that was in their blood when they used their flames as children, it was a result of fighting back.

“There’s nothing to fix Galo, I can’t make the nightmares go away. I wish I could but I can’t and I can’t heal you. But, we can heal together. You won’t be alone anymore; you have your friends at Burning Rescue, you have us. We’ll be there for you and we’ll fight together.”

Galo felt himself being pulled into an embrace and he returned it, burying his face into soft pale hair.

Nightmares didn’t go away but they became easier to handle, especially so when he wrapped his arms around the lithe body of the man next to him and buried his nose in soft hair that reminded him of home.

~~~~

Things were different in the sense that everything flowed more easily. Galo was able to conjure a flame and with his practice in concentration, he was able to make whatever he needed. Barriers, motorcycles, a cooking pan for when it was his turn to serve food to the settlement. They had everything but a pan, it was easily fixed with the quick wit of Galo Thymos. Thyma — the woman he had saved from the burning building — had been helping him at the time and she had laughed at him. It made him glad, she was always reserved with a sad look in her eyes.

They practiced his conjuring when it came to food hunting. At some point, Galo created mini soldiers to get chocolate, marshmallows, and crackers to sneak out from a delivery truck. It was piling up next to him and he was close to getting all he needed to bring back with him to treat others.

"What are you doing?"

The voice came from over his shoulder and he recognized it as Gueira's.

"Sh, I'm concentrating."

There was a moment of silence before he heard Meis' voice behind both of them.

"What is he doing?"

"He's getting chocolate, marshmallows, and crackers."

"Why?"

Galo piped in as he got the last batch into his bag.

"To make s'mores obviously!"

He stood up and looked at them, grinning as he placed his hands on his hips. The duo looked at him strangely as they looked at the filled bags he had.

"Is this guy still an idiot?"

"Yep, still an idiot."

Gasping, Galo placed his hand against his chest in mock-offense before his jaw legit dropped at Meis' response to Gueira's question.

"Hey!"

"What are you three doing?"

They all looked at Lio with his hands filled with bags of food, he noticed that there were quite an impressive amount of Mac and Cheese boxes in there. He raised an eyebrow at Lio and in response there was a blush.

"I like it okay?" 

After some quiet laughter, Meis rested an arm on Gueira's shoulder.

"Galo stole—"

"Borrowed!"

"A lot of marshmallows, chocolate, and crackers."

Lio raised an eyebrow at Galo, clearly not judging — there was a small amount of judgment — and his eyes looked towards his bag curiously.

"It's for s'mores okay? Figured it'd be a great treat okay? Mainly for the kids but the adults too. I swear I didn't just borrow sweets, I got more stuff too."

Humming quietly, Lio nodded his approval and they finally got out of there before they were caught. That night, Galo and Lio made spaghetti together. He placed a small amount on a plate before he sampled the spaghetti, it was a recipe Varys had brought to make one day. Galo recalled the missing posters of him that he saw at the market, it had Burning Rescues phone numbers and it made his heartache. Lio had caught him looking at a poster before he slipped his hand into Galo's, coaxing him back to their hideout. 

"Mm, it tastes good. Varys always made it delicious, good thing I learned from him."

Lio hummed and he opened his mouth while he looked at Lio.

"What?"

He huffed as he rolled his eyes at Galo.

"Feed me some."

Opening his mouth again, he gave Galo a 'go on' type of look. Galo twirled the fork on the plate before he came up with a clever idea. Smirking, he raised the fork and aimed for Lio's mouth as he made airplane noises. The amusement on Lio's made him grin before he noticed the shift in Lio's eyes as he slowly slipped the fork out of his mouth. A hand had managed to find its way onto Galo's hip and Lio rubbed gentle circles as he slowly licked his lips clean of the sauce. 

"It's delicious."

Galo couldn't tear his eyes away from Lio's lips and were they closer? They looked so much closer. He remembered the softness of his lips when they kissed his eyelids, he wondered how they would feel against hi—

The timer they had set chimed and Galo noticed he was pressed against the counter with Lio blocking both sides with his arms. He was pressed against Galo and how the hell did they manage to get here?

"Yup, really delicious."

Galo squeaked out the words and he felt the heat that settled within him. The want was there and it was stronger than he's ever felt it. He wanted, wanted, wanted.

But not here, not now.

"We should probably serve everyone before it gets too cold."

"We probably should."

Lio had a smirk on his face, so smug. So precious.

The intense bubbled that formed around them deflated slowly and Galo almost let out a whine. He comprised by resting his forehead on Lio's shoulder.

There was a laugh as a response before the duo started to get everything for serving. They just finished as the settlement began filing into the cafeteria and plates were given out. After dinner was served everyone huddled outside to watch the stars as they started a campfire for the s’mores. Children were running around while others rested against each other eating the sticky treats, Mr. Wren became that guy that always brought a guitar and started a soft tune. Galo figured it wasn’t so bad, he watched as some children danced in a silly manner while other adults slow-danced together.

Gueira pulled Meis up and they became one of the couples that slow danced together holding each other close, gently. They became silhouettes with the fire behind them, silhouettes that had no beginning or end. 

“Guess I was right to assume they were together.”

Lio hummed in response and he looked over at Lio who watched his trusted generals as they spun each out before they melted back into one silhouette.

“Took them forever to confess, it was cute how Gueira of all people would become tongue-tied whenever he tried to tell Meis. It came to the point that Meis become frustrated with how much he was stuttering about before he grabbed his face and kissed him.”

“ _Meis?_ ”

“Meis.”

“Hm, way to go Meis.”

They both chuckled before they lapsed back to silence and watched as the settlement enjoy themselves. It was almost easy to forget they were two days away before infiltrating a top guarded building. 

Almost.

Worry made Galo sick as he looked at the people who became friends and at the people who were slowly becoming part of his family with Burning Rescue. He didn’t want any of them to get hurt any more than they already experienced before, Galo’s fingers tapped against his leg as he began to feel the sensation of ants crawling under his skin. Until it stopped when a gloved hand snuck into his and caused him to get out of his thoughts. The tune was different and Lio was standing up, he pulled Galo along with him.

“You’re thinking too much General Thymos. I’m worried too but let’s enjoy ourselves tonight, come. Dance with me.”

Galo flushed red at the title — he needs to look into that — but he followed Lio who placed his hand on his waist and pulled him close. He could hear woots from a certain direction — dammit Gueira and Meis — before he pulled Lio close until they too mended into a single silhouette.

“Aye, aye Big Boss. Lead the way, wherever you go I will follow.”

Pressing his forehead against Lio’s, he watched as Lio’s eyelids shut halfway. Lio watched him through his lashes which he recalled were indeed soft against his fingers. He knew his eyelids were closed halfways, Galo recognized the tune from a distant memory. A memory where he was carried between a man and woman as they too slow-danced. He slid his eyes closed completely as he brushed his nose against Lio’s, humming the tune to him. Hummed it to him until their lips brushed against each other in a soft meeting.

He knew they had much to worry about but just for tonight, he would forget about the worry, the problems and only remember the soft exhale against his lips from the man perfectly snug in his arms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to the end of the chapter! I hope you enjoyed the chapter and thank you for reading. To those who have read thus far, you have my undying gratefulness for giving my story a shot. To those who have commented, it's nice to talk to people from the fandom since my home-town friends don't do the whole anime thing.
> 
> Per usual, thank you for giving the story a read and any questions, comments, applesauce don't hesitate to ask or to tell! 
> 
> Have a nice night/ morning/ day!


	9. But Even Sunrises Become Sundowns

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! I'm back with chapter 9, I burned out for a moment there but having seen Promare again really brought my spirits up! Also there are Lio POVs through this chapter. At the beginning and at the third ~~~~ so yeah! Just wanted to let you know. So, I bring you chapter 9 and I help you enjoy it <3

The armored jet eased their way through the sky, there were two people in front of the truck-turned-to-jet and in the back there were six other people. Lio, Meis, and Gueira sat quietly on the cold, metal benches with shackled hands. The aircraft approached a boxed facility surrounded by ice and blinking red lights until they stopped at a checkpoint and were asked for identification. The jet then turned to a truck and was loaded into a vehicle elevator. The trio felt when they started moving upwards to a different location in the building. They finally stopped and the vehicle turned off before they heard two doors slamming then the doors for the back of the vehicle were opened. The two guards that sat at the end of the metal benches climbed out first before they pulled Lio, Meis, and Guiera out then the last guard that sat at the back of the truck climbed out.

With the Burnish Trio in the middle, they were led down multiple passages by their four guards until they were taken to a cell and harshly shoved in. 

“Assholes.”

Lio heard Gueira muttered but couldn’t find the will to respond lest he wanted his response to come out harshly because in front of him was a horror. Burnish of all age ages were in the cell with them, children huddled together with bandages while adults were surrounded them like a protective shield. 

“Lio?”

His eyes snapped to the direction of where the voice came with and met eyes with an older man with large, round spectacles. Lio noticed as the older gentleman seemed to deflate when he responded to his name being called.

“They caught you too.”

People lowered their heads as he heard whispers going about them, about how they were doomed after all, about how death only awaited them. It pained Lio before he stood taller and he spoke loudly. The voices died down instantly as they looked towards Lio, it was easier to get their attention when he demanded it. 

“They did but don’t worry, we’ll get everyone out of here and we’re going to take you somewhere safe.”

His eyes softened as he looked at all the frightened Burnish.

“We’ll go home.”

Everyone seemed to relax, seemed to become more hopeful and it would do for now until Galo was able to start disarming the building from within. Lio sat down and he let one last thought of Galo cross his minds, of how tense he looked within the armor of the Freeze Force that he had stolen. Worry drilled through his body before he shook his head. Galo would be fine, he would meet them at the end of this, and then they can talk about what happened during the night of the campfire. He remembered the brush of lips against his own and he couldn’t help the blush that filled his cheeks before Lio shooed away all thoughts of Galo. He couldn’t focus on that, Lio’s focus was more needed now. With a deep breath, Lio closed his eyelids and exhaled slowly before he started to work on calling his flames. 

Each time he would ignite the ice from his shackles snuff out his flames, he needed to get this done. Lio would do this, he would burn. 

Burn, let me burn.

The response came quickly like a soft, loved voice that he knew would always be there.

_Burn._

~~~~

Galo thanked his lucky stars to find that the layout of the facility was not changed as much, it seemed like he’s been given this small mercy. Galo snuck into an empty room before he changed into a scientist’s clothes that he’d sto— _borrowed_ — to get out of the stuffy Freeze Force Armor that’d he’d _borrowed_. Another point of luck as there was a helmet that covered the entirety of his face. It was from the man he knocked out previously a couple of hours prior when Lio, Meis, and Gueira were doing a distraction of burning down a building — per usual — and stuffed the knocked-out man into a pantry and melted the knob. 

He felt guilty for doing so, but to be fair, this is for a greater good. 

Galo finished fixing the black wig and placing the white glasses on his face before he hid the bag he carried with him. As he walked quickly to the control room, he recalled the moment he felt Lio's sword banging against his weapon. It felt like something he's never known, it was amazing. He remembered the way Lio changed in-between his weapons. From a sword to bow and arrows, to a whip, and then back to a sword. Galo had to push down the want to burn alongside Lio, the want to burn pressed against his skin and he heard the voices that wanted to clash against Lio's flames. 

Even now, he felt the restlessness that crawled underneath his skin, he gripped his fist in the coat as he fiddled with the black wig. Finally, he arrived at the control center and then he used the band — thank you, scientist — to access the control center. He noticed only one person was manning the desk and Galo read her name tag. With a tap on the shoulder she turned to look at him, eyebrow raised.

"Yes?"

"Hey, your friend wanted me to ask if you go see her in Lounge D."

Both her eyebrows raised before they lowered down with worry.

"Grace?"

Galo nodded his head as the fist in the scientist’s pocket tightened.

"Yup, that's her! Did something happen? I'm not quite sure, she seemed highly upset."

"Greg, that cheating bastard! I have to go to her but I can't. Oh, what am I going to do?"

With the tone of worry in his voice and the determination in his eye, Galo placed his hand on her shoulder.

"I can take care of it, my break is almost over anyway."

He hoped that she would overlook the fact she's never seen him but he assumed, with how many desks there were in here, she would not realize. A drop of sweat started to go down as she stared at him for a moment before she agreed. Galo almost sagged with relief but stood firm while she left saying to be careful. It was after she left that he immediately accessed the system and locked that door and any other doors that led to where the Burnish were kept. Any doors that remained open were for the sole purpose of the Burnish and his escape route.

Then through the cameras, he saw a burst of pink and blue flames as it slammed the metal door against the hallway. With a small fist pump, he started messing more with the alarms. even if he knew it would be a couple of minutes that he could buy them, it was better than nothing. 

As he was messing around with the system, he noticed other files. Other files that he could tell were highly classified, must have been because he stole the band from a scientist that worked in the field too. He scoured through it and what he found made his stomach drop, it made Galo sick and anger blistered within him. The printing option screen popped up as Galo pressed the keys necessary for it and started printing out whatever pages he could open. 

A screeching sound echoed through the speakers and he looked down into the cameras to see that the alarms kicked in again and saw as there was a large armored truck heading straight towards Lio. Except, Lio was running at it too. Flames were shooting out of Lio's hands and just as the vehicle was about to hit Lio, he slid under it easily and Galo saw as he used his flames to make the vehicle hit the wall.

Smirking, Galo grabbed all the pages he printed out before he made his way out of the control room. He looked back at the computer and grinned at the screen that had a smiling multi-colored flame bouncing with numbers counting down. The smirk only grew as he fled, he knew it looked like something that would explode but it was a worm he implanted by Thyma to completely break the system. She told him that she had a past time of messing with computers and it impressed him more than ever when she showed him. 

Galo thought of how Lucia and she would get along, he missed them and it only grew more when he remembered seeing them at the scene where the distraction was happening. They'll meet the Burnish one day, he promised it to himself as he ran down a flight of stairs and as he rushed to the aircraft port. Lio directed the flow of people into the backs of the copters and he met eyes Galo and for a moment he was intimidated when Lio raised his hands up with flames coming out of them.

"Ah! Wait, wait! Lio! It's me!"

Lio blinked and lowered his hands, really it was a miracle he heard him at all with how loud the copters were. Galo rushed over to meet him and he noticed as Lio's eyes softened, he felt his heart as it thumped in his chest. No, no time for that now. Later. 

Resting his hand on Lio's shoulder, he nodded his head towards the copters.

"We have to go everything's starting to shut down. People are going to come out rushing and I have to talk to you so the sooner we arrive the better."

"Right, get into one of the jets. Meis and Gueira are already piloting one, you have to pilot the other!"

Galo nodded and he rushed to the copter he was assigned to and after everything was secure, he gave the ready motion. Lio nodded his head and soon they were off and flying away from the facility. He looked back and saw a man, in a white suit with blue accents and still intimidating even from below.

~~~~

They ditched the copters miles away from their hideaway cave and for the time being. At least until Gueira and Meis came back with less suspicious vehicles and Lio with food for the Burnish. Galo was making sure that the Burnish people were situated, for now, doing what he could with those who were injured with the emergency kit stowed away in his pack. But, there was one who seemed to fight for her life and it killed Galo knowing there was nothing he could do. It could have been anyone he cared about, Lio or Meis or Gueira. The Burnish children or Mr. Wren or Thyma, he felt horrible to feel relieved it wasn't them. So he did what he could and he stayed near the girl to give her comfort, Galo placed her head beneath a rolled-up scientist jacket to maybe ease her head better. 

But even as he took care of Burnish, Galo couldn't help as his mind strayed to the stowed away documents in his pack. He could help but think about what he read, about what he saw in pictures that were taken. And why hadn't Kray come after them? He had merely stood and watched as they got away, but why? Uneasy wrapped around his heart and squeezed, he couldn't breathe. Why couldn't he breathe? Galo walked away from the Burnish with a wheezed out excuse and found himself as he pressed his forehead against the cool rock. His breath wouldn't slow and he couldn't breathe then a memory floated to mind.

The memory of a gentle voice and a gentle touch, he focused on his breathing. Focused on the woman with bright blue hair and warm brown eyes, he focused on her voice even if he couldn’t make out what she was saying. The memory was too old and looked like it was seen through a hazy filter, it still held color. It still held _warmth_.

“Galo?”

There was a flinch that ran through his body before he looked at Lio who had bags, it seemed like he beat Gueira and Meis. 

“Ah, Lio. You’re back. Welcome back.”

Why was there a hitch in his voice? Why was his face wet? When did he start to become such a crybaby? 

“You’re crying.”

Galo nodded and whispered a quiet response.

“I know.”

Lio frowned momentarily before he turned away from Galo and started to walk into the cave, panic seized Galo and he reached forward only to stop himself and pull his hand back. The footsteps stopped and he felt a gloved hand stroking his cheek and his head was pulled down a bit. Their foreheads bumped together and he eased down again, finding comfort in the scent of woods and smoke that clung to Lio.

“I’ll be right back, I’m just going to give the food to the Burnish.”

He nodded and watched as the other man walked into the cave, pressing his hand against his chest. It’s like when he burned out the drag, he also unplugged something within him. Unplugged and let everything loose. Maybe Galo could press the emotions away, make them disappear so he wouldn’t feel them again. But, it didn’t work no matter how much he pressed and he felt as more tears rolled down his cheeks.

~~~~

Lio returned in a few minutes, and he settled against the rock next to Galo. He looked down at Galo since he decided to sit on the floor with crisscrossed legs. Galo was trying to ground himself and it was working, he knew that the man on the ground wanted to put on a face for the rest. Not to show a break in the mask of someone who was trained to keep that mask at all times, it was human. It was Galo.

“Want to talk about it?”

The question was silent, calm. Lio didn’t want to make Galo feel like he would force him to explain what happened. He left it open for Galo to decide and after a brief moment of silence, he responded with a determined voice.

“I saw Kray at the Burnish containment. He was watching us leave, not calling any of his men to attack. He just stood there and I don’t know what to make out of it Lio. Why didn’t he attack us? Should he decide to attack us, what’s going to happen to everyone? What if we can’t protect them? I don’t want anyone to get hurt anymore but people would have if we didn’t show up, so why do I still feel a sense of dread? Why didn’t I kill him when I had the chance?”

The silence stayed while Lio digested the words and couldn’t help being unsettled when Galo mentioned the want to kill but he also thought of how Kray Foresight was there. Meaning he was there throughout the whole scheme. He wondered what he could have been doing there but frowned at whatever thoughts came up, all seemed something Kray would have done. The question does stay why he didn’t attack them, what was he planning? It couldn’t have been to follow them otherwise they would have seen him by now, so it couldn’t be that. Maybe he thought he could track them through the copters, he couldn’t help but scoff. Then he realized what else Galo said, people would have gotten injured worse should they have not shown up. Lio rested a hand on his shoulder before giving it a gentle, comforting squeeze.

“We will protect them, Burnish protect each other. We’ll protect each other. But, Galo, what do you mean people would have gotten more hurt if we didn’t show up? What else could have Kray done aside human experimentation to create soldiers? Now that he doesn’t have the Burnish, it won’t be possible.” 

Lio noticed the tightening of Galo’s hands, he bunched his pant’s material in fists. He could feel the electricity in the air, could feel the heat rising within Galo before Galo relaxed his grip and calmed with a couple of breaths.

“I saw some stuff and I printed it out, I saw a video of what they did to the Burnish. It’s not just soldiers. Not anymore at least.”

“What? Not anymore? Galo, what did you see?”

“Lio!”

They both snapped to attention at one of the children who raced out, the child had some macaroni cheese on his cheek and it would have been endearing had he not the look of fear on his face. Lio pushed off the rock before he kneeled in front of the boy, his hands were on his shoulders.

“Hey, what's wrong?”

“It’s Mia! She doesn’t look all that great, she refused to eat. We have to do something Lio!”

Lio nodded and he stood up, following the back into the cave. He heard Galo’s footsteps close behind him and it brought him some comfort before it was taken away. Replacing the comfort was dread as he noticed how bad the bandaged girl on the floor looked, he knew that her flames were becoming mere embers. 

“Lio, what do we do? I have some medical emergency training, maybe I can help.”

It was Galo, his voice was quiet and it matched what Lio felt. 

Shaking his head, Lio moved forward and the crowd parted for him.

“It wouldn’t work, I have to do this.”

Lio lowered himself down to the woman and tilted her chin up gently, he lowered his lips down to hers. He felt as Galo watched, he felt as the with each breath he gave the girl the flames seemed to grow stronger. Lio heard the calling of her flames, how they called stronger and stronger until everyone heard the silent vibrations resonating with everyone.

Pulling back, Lio was out of breath and he looked at Mia. Looked as her eye opened and she looked at everyone with her non-bandaged eye. They looked as she smiled gently and they looked as she gave her last breath. Her flame dwindled to nothing and the silence was somber, Lio closed his eyes as he lowered his head. With gentle hands, he placed her hands on her stomach. One above the other, he would remember her; he would remember all who have passed and he was going to make Kray _pay_. Lio stood up and spoke a farewell with a powerful voice, he felt the resonating coming from the others as they repeated the words. They all paid witness to when Mia slowly turned to ash, witnessed as she became one with the earth again.

“She’s turning to ash?”

Galo whispered as Lio joined his side again and for a moment he narrowed his eyes at Galo then stopped. Hot shame washed over him, Galo hadn’t said it in a way that was meant to be offensive; Lio knew this but he couldn’t help the instant reaction that overcame him at that moment.

“The Promare burns our bodies within but if sync with us, they regenerate everything they burn keeping us healed. But, even if they can keep us alive for a long time once they reach their end so will we. Mia’s Promare reached their end, couldn’t heal what was beyond repair so they both died. We all turn to ash in the end, joining the earth and the sky as air delivers us to our final resting ground.”

“Boss.”

Meis and Gueira stood behind Lio and Galo, he turned to look at them. He noticed the moment they also caught sight of what was left of Mia, they lowered their heads in respect. Their remorse and anger were visible in their face as they both clenched their fists before they exhaled at the same time. Always so synchronized. 

“We have the tractors and we’re ready to load everyone to head towards the settlement.”

“Good job you two, let’s get everyone into the trucks then.”

He walked forward, calling everyone’s attention to him and they followed his instructions. Lio felt the empty beside and looked behind him to see Galo still standing where they were in the cave. Galo’s fists were clenched tightly and only relaxed when Lio slipped his hand into his, ebbing the tension away. He led Galo away from the cave, away from the ashes. They walked behind the Burnish as they all started to settle into the trucks, he climbed in the front with Galo while Meis and Gueira drove the other two trucks.

The ride was silent and Lio looked out the window as he replayed the conversation with Galo against the rocks and it was Galo who broke the silence.

“How long is running away going to work? When will it stop?”

“It’ll stop when we’re hunted down like animals.”

“What if it never does? What if they keep hunting even if you kept running?”

 _You_.

Not _us_.

Lio couldn’t deny the anxiety that filled him at the thought of losing Galo again.

Does Galo still not think of himself as one of us?

“ _We_ will fight them back. Until they see we’re not going down without a fight.”

He watched as Galo smiled as he slowly, he heard as his heart fluttered when Galo responded with a loud woot. It was easy to ignore the anxiety from before.

“Yes, we will!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to the end of chapter 9! I hope you enjoyed it, things are finally starting to pick up haha! I hope you enjoyed it thus for, per usual, any questions are welcomed and will be answered as quickly as possible! Or if you just wanna share your thoughts that's great too! Chapter 10 is already in the works and I'll see you soon :D


	10. And Darkness Will Surely Follow

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> /kicks this chapter into the story while also burning in embarrassment/ Well, hello! I come with a very late update that is uh, spicy? More out there, something that is out of my element but definitely wanted to try? Slightly smutty, is it still considered knife play if it was only used to cut up perfectly good clothes?
> 
> Anyways! I hope you enjoy!

It was night when they finally arrived at the settlement, Galo helped the others out of the trucks and helped the wounded if they were immobile. New clothes were given out so that the orange clothing from the Foresight Foundation could be removed and thrown away. Galo watched as children hugged other children or elders or parents; how some family and friends were reunited, how some looked frantically for their loved ones but couldn’t find them and their sadness would show. His heart throbbed but then he watched as others would pull the lost child or person into a hug and it would ease his pain away enough for it to be easily ignored. 

Gueira placed an elbow on Galo's shoulder, his arm was slanted up since he was a bit shorter than him. He grinned as he met Galo's eyes, who raised an eyebrow in return and then jumped a bit when he felt as someone else leaned on his shoulder. He looked over to see it was Meis and he had a grin, his other hand rested on his hip. 

"Uh, guys?"

Their grins grew as they leaned in more.

"Guess what Galo?"

Galo couldn't help the immediate and childish response that left his lips as he responded to the question.

"Chicken butt?"

Meis and Gueira both stared at him before they started to holler with laughter. 

"Is this guy an idiot?"

"Yup, still an idiot!"

"Hey! How rude!"

They began laughed harder and more people looked their way in amusement while others wiped their tears. Meis looked at Galo, rubbing his abdomen with a small grimace.

"We were going to say, Galo, we pulled off something great. Not to say, we couldn't have done it without you because it's us after all, but you made it easier. So thank you."

Galo's heart filled with surprise and with something else he couldn't put a finger on. Something that he knew he's longed for. He felt as Gueira smacked his back with proud thumps, they were hard enough to make him stumble a bit. But he grinned at both of the men and then noticed as Lio stepped forward too. A hand rested on Galo's bicep and there was a gentle smile on Lio's lips as he looked at Galo before his attention swept to the other Burnish in front of them. 

"We have lost many of our brothers and sisters. They fell to the clutches of those who wish to abuse us. We will be free and we will fight for each other's freedoms. Tonight, let's celebrate our freedom and let's celebrate the names of our fallen comrades!"

There was silence then there was a roaring cheer before everyone diverged away to get preparations for a meal. Galo knew the pain of losing someone important, even if he couldn't remember their face. He knew the pain the Burnish felt for losing their loved ones was going to be raw for a long time. He knew but when he looked at Lio followed a whopping Gueira and a laughing Meis the feeling in his chest grew. It grew when Lio stopped and looked behind him towards Galo, it grew when Lio stretched his hand out. It grew when the light of moon hit Lio's bare, scarred hand and when it shone its bright light on them — seemingly creating their bubble. It grew when Lio smiled and said words that made him never want to leave.

"Let's go home, Galo."

Galo slipped his hand into Lio's and the feeling made him warm. It was feeling that he realized Burning Rescue also brought him. 

It was the feeling of home within people. And it was a reminder to Galo who he needed to protect, past be damned. 

Kray along with it. 

~~~~

The celebration was one of mixed feelings, people mourned as they celebrated. Tears and smiles mixed as they danced, the sound of laughter and sobbing mixed until it was difficult to tell which was which. It was beautiful in Galo's eyes, it was something different — something he was glad to be a part of. It was the reason why it was so difficult to sneak away when no one was looking and why he felt guilty for when he pulled Thyma to the side. While he printed out the papers, he also sent the information to the band he borrowed from the scientist during their escape. 

Thyma looked at him curiously as she regarded Galo in the moonlit hall of the settlement. There was a flush to her cheeks as she scratched her cheek awkwardly when he turned to look at her, he wondered if maybe she was too drunk to have a serious conversation but he was going to try anyway.

"Thyma, I know this is weird…"

"General Thymos, you're…"

They both blinked at each as they spoke and both laughed a bit. Galo rubbed the back of his neck.

"Ah, sorry. Please, go on Thyma."

"No, no. It's okay, you first!"

Galo looked at her before he nodded and held out the band and a piece of paper to Thyma. She took the band gingerly, held it between her forefinger and thumb. The paper was in her other hand. There was a mild look of uncomfort that settled on her face.

"A band?"

"I know this is an odd request, but you're amazing with technology and I need you to do me a favor. Can you please send all the information in that band to these email addresses. As soon as you can and please include the message that's written on the paper."

Thyma looked at the message on the paper and looked at the email address before there was a serious look on her face. Her nod was quick.

"I definitely will General Thymos! Thank you for trusting me with something so important."

He grinned and placed a hand on her shoulder. 

"Thank you! I appreciate it and you know it's okay to call me Galo right? Now, what were you going to say?"

"Ah, well, you know. It's not really important."

Their footsteps echoed as they walked together. Galo looked at her, his curiosity peaked but he surrendered and nodded his head.

"Well, if you're sure! Come on let's go join the others! I'm sure you want to enjoy the celebration more."

"Actually, I want to send this out first."

His eyebrow knit together as he stopped and looked at her.

"I know I mentioned as soon as you can, but Thyma, it's okay to go back and celebrate. To remember."

Galo made sure to give her a reassuring smile and she returned the smile but determination flared in her eyes.

"I'm going to do it now and I won't let you down, Galo!"

Thyma grinned at him before she ran down the stairs ahead of him and he blinked. Ah, well. Galo made his way back and noticed as Lio scanned the crowd. It looked like he was searching for something. Leaning against the wall, Galo watched Lio from afar as he considered what he felt for the man. He knew it was more than a friend and from the small bits be remembered as a kid, Galo knew the emotion matched back then too. 

When he was a teenager and sneaking relationships behind Kray's back, his first kiss went to Aina — they both decided they didn't like each other in that sense. The first time he coupled with another person it was a male intern-scientist and they had done it in an empty lab room. Needless to say, they were caught and the intern was fired while Galo was punished with solitary confinement. The next time he did it, it was a woman from a bar he snuck into. She was gorgeous and soft. Now looking back at those instances and of the other times, all had some type of feature that matched Lio. Delicate wrists and long eyes, the same type of hued eyes, pale, bobbed hair. Something always matched and he could feel the heat in his cheeks and further below. Lio's eyes found him across the celebration and he made his way to him. Speak of the devil and he shall appear, or in this case, think of him and he'll head your way with a smile that Galo desperately wanted to steal with his lips.

Ah, something turned out to be someone.

Someone turned out to be him.

"There you are, I was wondering where you went." 

"I had to talk to Thyma about a favor."

Lio looked at him curiously and the urge got stronger as he looked into those eyes, he felt the moment that the tension increased between them. Noticed when Lio's eyes became half-lidded and leaned towards Galo. He found himself leaning towards Lio too and there was a small smirk on his lips.

"What no date Boss Man?"

Their foreheads tapped against each other as their noses grazed.

"A boss can demand what he wants."

They both knew this wasn’t how Lio thought but Galo wanted to be commanded by the man in front of him. It was a want that settled in his lower abdomen like a burning need.

"Oh, and what do you demand?"

"I demand you to stop talking."

Galo was about to retort before he was pulled down by his shirt and felt the press of Lio's lips against his own. It was nothing like the one they shared previously, while that one was soft this one was passionate. _Filthy_. 

It was one that made Galo make a sound he didn't know he was capable of making, the kiss was one where Lio’s hands slid down his neck, down the expanse of his shoulders to the dip of his small back before they rested against his covered hips. He felt the warmth of Lio's hands as they flirted with the skin of hips when they played with the hem of his shirt, appearing and disappearing again until Galo whined then they stayed against his skin; the thumbs rubbing gentle circles. Then Lio’s hands gripped his hips and pulled them closer so that their bodies were more flushed together. 

As much as Galo wanted to feel the slide of Lio's tongue against his own and the press of his lips, they both needed to breathe. Slowly, they pulled back with a strand of wetness connecting to both their lips. It snapped once Lio licked his lips and Galo watched mesmerized at how swollen and pink his lips were, he wanted more. And by the hardness he felt pressed against his thigh, he wasn't the only one. Galo wanted to keep going but then he remembered they were in front of others and he flushed a deep red.

"If, ah, uh. If you want to continue. We should, inside. You know, go inside and I, yeah."

Lio grinned as he reached behind Galo and he felt as the wall turned out to be a door — when had they moved? — so Galo fell through. For a moment, he thought he was going to land on his back but his arm was snagged and he was being pulled through the hallways.

Galo's back met with the firm bed as Lio pushed him onto it before he crawled into the bed on his knees. The leather jacket was already on the ground and Galo watched with hungry anticipation as Lio stripped the frilly white shirt. Galo took his eyes away from Lio as he threw the discarded shirt to the neatly-folded clothes in the corner. Fingers grabbed his chin and his face was turned back around, darkened eyes met and it was for a moment everything halted. 

Lio leaned forward and pressed his forehead against Galo's, so soft. Galo rubbed his noses against Lio's as he breathed in his scent.

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure. I want you, Lio. I want to burn with you."

Lio hummed as his eyelids shut closed before they reopened, eyes darkened with lust and a flame that Galo wanted to light more.

"Then let's burn everything around us."

Galo seared the image of Lio straddling his lap as his excitement pressed hard against Galo's lower abdomen. Eyelids slid closed as Lio pressed him against the wall in a deep kiss. A needy whimper escaped Galo's lips as he grabbed Lio's hips and thrust upwards against Lio's ass. There was a pleasured laugh that escaped Lio's lips and it made the hunger in Galo's. Hands slid from Lio's hips to his narrow waist and his thumbs touched and it spurred Galo on more. 

Then there was a pull on his hair as he was pulled away from Lio's lips and the weight of Lio on his lap shifted. Galo would be more embarrassed at how his hips chased after the soft feel of Lio had he not been more confused. A sound that matched his confusion escaped his lips as he opened his eyes again to look at a smug Lio. 

There no longer was a grip in his hair as Lio pressed both his hands against Galo's hips and pushed them into the bed. Making sure he wasn't anywhere near Galo's hardened length. That was still clothed. Dammit. As Galo was distracted Lio's hands moved from his hips and then grabbed his wrists as he summoned black handcuffs, restraining Galo's wrists. 

"Wha—?"

"Do you trust me?"

Galo blinked at Lio who looked very serious and still heated, but he knew this was important to Lio. He did trust him, he was confused and undeniably horny. Never once frightened.

"I do."

Lio's features softened and he pressed a gentle kiss to Galo's forehead. His guard was let down enough that he pressed against Galo's cock and Galo groaned as he instinctively jerked up against Lio's soft ass before a chain wrapped around the link of his cuffs and jerked his hands up. They were pinned against the wall and so were his hips as Lio once again pressed them down against the bed with a smirk.

"No moving pup."

Yup, this spurred on Galo as his face darkened to a deep red and his cock twitched in his jeans. Still clothed, dammit again.

"I still have my clothes on you know."

"Oh, I know. Don't think I've forgotten." 

Lio lifted one of his hands and a flame shot out in the shape of a dagger and he smirked down at Galo. His eyes seemed to glow and it was a glow that Galo would never forget. 

"You're in for a long night General Thymos. I suggest we begin." 

Galo has never been more turned on than he was at that moment. 

~~~~

It was late when they finished and their bodies were soaked in sweat and other fluids but Lio kept his spot against Galo's back. Pressed against him and the only new thing was that Lio pressed gentle kisses against Galo's shoulder as the other stroked gentle circles against one of the hands on his waist. Both fell into a contented sleep, Lio last as he listened to the loud snores of Galo. Had it been anyone else he would have been annoyed but for Galo, there was a feeling of endearment. A smile floated up to Lio's lips as he pressed one last kiss against a bite mark that he left prior before he too slipped into a peaceful sleep. 

Lio knew that there were nights Galo was haunted by memories that surfaced as nightmares. He understood those nights because Lio has gone through those nights himself too. Before they found Galo again, comfort for Lio was found between the gentle embrace of his two best friends and generals. Sometimes it was more than just sleeping in between them to chase away the nightmares of dying friends or abandoning Galo. Other times there was a need to feel the burning feel of other bodies moving against his own to feel something other than fear or self-hatred or anything that fell among those lines. It was a need to feel that he was there, that he still _existed_. Though there times, more times than he'd never admit, that he would find himself a horny teenager again. With nothing but the images of the beautiful man who grew from the boy he once knew, Lio would have a hand on himself throughout a heated night. 

Once clarity came back to Lio, he would clean up and think about how Galo wouldn't be a cuddler afterward — he was right — then they would shift to thoughts of Galo ever received comfort under the clutches of Kray Foresight. A scowl contorted his face before the image Galo passed through his mind and he calmed down more, Lio would comfort Galo. He would comfort him and show him that his trust was better placed with Lio, that he deserved it more. 

They would find each other and it would stay that way, they would never be separated again. Lio would find comfort in Galo and he would find comfort in Lio.

True to his word, Lio did comfort Galo the best he could whenever he dreamt of the past. Sometimes he would wake up to a sniffling Galo who tried to cover his face and hush his pain but Lio wouldn't have it. He would hold Galo, would stroke his arm as he quietly spoke to slowly pull Galo from the nightmare's hold. Other times, Lio would wake up to an empty bed and for a moment there would be panic in him. A panic that grew when he thought everything was a dream but it would subside once he made his way outside. Outside would be Galo, shirtless as ever even if it was nippy outside. They would talk during these nights, talk from the smallest of things to things that would crush them from the inside.

Lio woke up as blue light painted his room's walls. Panic shifted through his body as he looked for the warmth that was usually next to him before he calmed down. With a quick clean up, Lio placed Galo's large hoodie on himself before he looked at the shredded, black mess that used to be Galo's shirt. Ah, well.

At least it wasn't the hoodie.

Footsteps echoed quietly through the empty hallway before he left the hallway and exited the building completely. Galo sat at one of the log benches, his head tilted back as he watched the beams of sun appear. He had a different shirt and basketball shorts, and Lio couldn't help but want to tear the clothing off of the man. Lio plopped next to him with a relaxed, chipper 'good morning' and Galo hummed his response back before he pulled Lio close to his side. Lio smiled and rested against Galo as everything felt perfect.

"Lio?"

"Hm?"

"I need to tell you something."

Lio's warning bells rang through his head as his attention was instantly snagged from how serious Galo sounded.

"What is it?"

"We need to move the camp, we have to take them somewhere else. The moving can't stop, we have to keep hiding them otherwise it'll be bad when they're found."

Galo looked down at Lio and he realized just how much he trusted Galo at that moment. Lio felt as he nodded and enjoyed the surprise that flashed through Galo's face.

"Just like that?"

"Just like that. But I am curious, why do we have to move?"

Unease danced through Galo's expression and he severely wanted to kiss away that feeling but doing so would distract the man. It was difficult to refrain but Lio managed to do so with great pride.

"I saw what Kray is planning to do with us, it was saved into the black band that was stolen but I think it was deactivated already since the green light isn't blinking anymore."

Frowning, Lio stayed quiet as Galo continued.

"His super soldiers failed. They turned to ash after some time and because of how much pain the Burnish were in, the Promare started to burn stronger within the center of the Earth. All this caused the magma in the Earth's core to rise and it's threatening to overflow so Kray is making a spacecraft to escape to another plant. It's called Omega Centauri and it's much like the Earth."

There was silence as Galo's explanation hovered between them and he felt the anger towards Kray grow before he shoved it aside. He stood and he looked at Galo extending his hand, Galo grinned as he slipped his hand into his but then the grin changed to a grimace. Lio noted that there was a look of worry in his eyes. 

"Galo?"

"Lio, I... once we get the Burnish somewhere safe. I need to go back to Prompelopis."

"Wha—? Galo, you belong here with us. Why would you go back? We protect the Burnish, we protect our own, we protect each other!"

Lio gripped Galo's hands, fear crawled up and gripped his heart. He didn’t want to lose him, not again, it would be easy once it’d be on enemy territory. The territory ruled under Kray Foresights jurisdiction, a territory where Lio avoided.

“You can’t go back! Galo, please. Don’t be an idiot stay here with us, with me.”

“I can’t just protect one group of people, Lio, I want to protect everyone. There has to be a way to cool the magma’s core and I’m going to find it. Leaving mostly everyone to die is cruel Lio.”

“They’ve killed more of us than we have killed them! And do you know why Galo Thymos? Because whenever we attack a city, we always leave an escape route! The Burnish don’t kill without a reason, but they do!”

“I know, Lio! And it’s impressive that you do, it’s amazing the control that you have over your flames. It’s a part of you that I l… like.”

He felt the flush that betrayed what he was feeling but Lio shook his head and pressed on. Galo would need to hear sense, he needed to understand that Lio couldn’t lose him again. 

“Then what’s there to go back to Galo?”

“Burnish Rescue.”

“Wha—”

“You asked what there is to go back to and I'm telling you. There’s Lucia, Aina, Remi, Varys, Vinny, and Captain Ignis. Hell, Lio, there’s a whole city that I want to save! I’m a General Lio, it’s what I do. I’m going to protect everyone with my fire-fighter burning soul. Everyone. Burning Rescue. The Burnish. _You_.”

Lio tilted his head into Galo’s palm as it raised to stroke his cheek and he knew that he wouldn’t win this fight. Galo had already set his mind to it like the stubborn man he is.

“Are you an idiot?”

“Yeah. The world’s number one fire-fighting idiot.”

Snorting, Lio stood on the tips of his toes and pressed a gentle kiss upon Galo’s lips.

“After all this, you’re going to tell me the full sentence.”

“I will.”

Humming quietly, Lio pressed one last quick peck to Galo’s lips and felt the real smile form. Galo’s smile, the smile he’d never let go of.

“Tell me about them.”

“What?”

“About your crew. Tell me, I want to know.”

Galo grinned and he did tell Lio, he told Lio of the people he would thank for coloring the world of person he loved the most.

~~~~

Lucia’s had bags under her eyes as she felt the restlessness that vibrated through her being. It had been a while after Galo was kidnapped with no messages from the man and no sign of him either, everyone was worried but they still kept with the schedules. Even with their busy schedules with more fire breaking out than usual, Lucia kept building drones that would be sent out to scope the area while Aina flew through the skies in her copter. Remi checked in with all of Galo’s favorite restaurants — they were mostly pizza places, shocker — and Varys checked with the elderly group homes where Galo would like to read to them. Captain Ignis would pull some strings and would ask deep into the government only to receive the same answer each time, a question mark and with an apology for ‘their loss’. It irked all of them, but while they didn’t believe Galo was dead there certainly wasn’t enough proof to show he wasn’t. With all their searching, the man was never around and they were never once given a sign to show he was alive until Lucia’s message bubble pinged. Then it was Varys, Aina, Remi and Ignis’ messages that followed soon. 

“What the hell?”

It was Remi’s voice that broke there as noise played from the speaker of his phone. Everyone huddled around them as they watched Galo explode in a burst of flames before it was reeled in with the goof laughing.

“Galo…”

“Is a Burnish?”

Aina finished Remi’s sentence and while she was shocked, she couldn’t help but laugh at the irony of it all. But also because, finally, they knew their idiot was alive.

“He’s alive! He’s alive and he’s Burnish!”

Lucia cheered as she was hoisted up by Varys who was also laughing with joy until Captain Ignis’ voice — serious but with an undertone of happiness — broke through.

“Wait, there’s more.”

Aina watched as a slide of multiple pictures flashed through, all with different explanations and she heard as everyone asked her confused question.

“What is this?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to the end! I hope you enjoyed it and I do apologize again for the late chapter. I would have shown more on Burning Rescue but it sure was getting late and I have to wake up early tomorrow augh /sobs/. Why is adulting so boringgggg? 
> 
> Anyways! Per usual, I hope you enjoyed and any questions or in general comments will be answered as promptly as possible. Thank you for giving it a read and I hope you have a good night/ morning/ day/ evening :)!


	11. A Moonless Night Finally Arrived

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! I come with chapter 11 of this fic! It is a bit shorter than the others and for that, I do apologize. Overtime has been keeping me busy but I still hope you enjoy the story! I already have another planned after this one and it was a thread that I was working on. But, it got too long so I figured I should make it into a story instead! Anyways, without further ado, here is chapter 11 and I hope you all enjoy :)!

It was three days after they received the message and Aina couldn’t believe it was real, it couldn’t be something that Heris would do. Surely, there was something more to this! Maybe she was being threatened? With her? Why would the Governor do this? The same man that rescued Galo from the fire couldn’t be the same man who was experimenting with Burnish people. But… At the same time, it didn’t surprise here. There was also something that felt so forced about the Governor. 

Aina stopped at a red light, thoughts piled within her head. They mixed with the discovery of Galo being Burnish but also with the fact that he was alive, the very thought filled her relief and more-so with how content Galo looked in the videos. With a petite, lithe man. For a short moment, there was an ache in her heart before she shook her head and started towards her destination again. Determination filled as she looked up towards the towering facility. She parked her bike behind Heris’ vehicle before she demounted it and headed towards the building.

After she entered the facility, it was easy enough to get through the with a special badge that Heris had given her. Granted, there were still some places she was not allowed to enter but Aina saw Heris soon enough as she walked several paces ahead of her.

“Heris!”

She saw as her older sister halted in her walking and she looked over her shoulder, a look of shock settled on her face before it was conveyed in her voice.

“Aina? What are you doing here? Is everything okay?”

Several steps later, Aina stood in front of Heris and she clutched the ends of her Burning Rescue jacket.

“I know the truth Heris. You can’t really be planning to leave so many people behind to save other people over them. Every life matters, there has to be something that can be done to prevent the world from becoming an inferno. Please.”

Aina relaxed her hands and placed them on Heris’ shoulders loosely, her eyes carrying the same pleading feeling that her voice did. Shock quickly flicked through Heris face before it was wiped clean, Aina looked down as she felt Heris clenching her forearms.

“Heris?”

“Aina, you need to listen. It’s time that you thought of yourself before you thought of everyone else. I’m doing this for you, I’m doing this to protect you. I promise you, it’ll get better and I know you don’t understand it now but you will. You have to go now, before th—”

“Ah, Aina. So good to see you again.”

The look of fear passed through Heris eyes again and Aina registered the Governor’s voice before the pull as Heris tugged her closer and spun them around to get Aina to walk the way she came. 

“Governor, I’m sorry she was just leaving.”

“Heris, I. Wait!”

There was a pushing sensation as Heris pushed against her back before Aina felt the cold, hard metal pressed against her front and she heard Heris as she gasped. Aina looked up to meet eyes with the most despicable man she’s ever had the displeasure of knowing. 

“Why the rush Doc?”

They both gasped as Heris was pulled back by the Governor and as Aina was pulled by Vulcan. Aina struggled against the large hands on her shoulders but with a simple clench, they held her in her spot.

“What’s the rush Dr. Ardebit? In fact, I believe it's a fantastic time to usher Aina into our safe rooms to prep her for the trip to Omega Centauri. Vulcan, you know where to take her.”

“Yes, sir. Come along brat!”

Vulcan growled as he shoved her along the hallway where Heris was originally headed to.”

Aina struggled against him and witnessed as Heris attempted to pull away from the Governor, her hand extended towards her as she called her name. Before the Governor leaned down and whispered something into her ear, Aina saw with growing fear as Heris stopped struggling. Heris simply clenched her white coat and watched with teary eyes as Aina was pulled through metal doors. The doors slid shut and cut off the image of Heris with a large hand resting on her shoulder that belonged to a smug-looking asshat. 

The room that Aina was shoved into was a cell, a holding cell for criminals and she flung a fist towards Vulcan’s face only to have her wrist snatched. He hoisted her up easily and grinned at her before he tossed her into the cell. The door slid shut as she recovered from the throw and was about to launch herself against it. Aina watched as Vulcan sneered at her through the bars on the small window of the door, his fanged teeth visible to her as he snarled at her.

“Hope you enjoy your luxury stay, your majesty.”

He snickered as he walked away and Aina rushed towards the door, her fists slammed against it as she screamed out through the barred window.

“Let me out! Heris! Get me out of here! Please!”

There was no response and Aina hanged her head as she clenched and unclenched her fists against the door, she felt betrayed. She knew she should have seen this coming but the ache to managed to worm itself into her being, tears brimmed her eyes and she fisted the material of her jacket. Not Heris, not the person she looked up to. Not the person she was proud to be related to, a soft sob escaped her lips as she slid to the ground. It wasn’t supposed to turn out like this.

Aina felt as Vinny rubbed his soft cheek against hers and small hands pressed against her cheek as they brushed away the tears that fell. She opened her eyes and looked at his worried ones, a small smile came to her face as she looked at him. With a nod of her head, she wiped away the tears because everyone was counting on her to do this and she would.

“It wasn’t supposed to turn out like this, but it did huh, Vinny?”

There was a soft noise of agreement from her little companion.

“But it did. And we’re going to fix this mistake the Governor and Heris created. We’re going to save this whole world like Galo promised we would.”

There was a cheer from Vinny as she held out her and he ran to the palm of it, Aina looked at her friend with his small firefighter hat and with a dangling chip around his neck.

“It’s time to start the plan, Vinny.”

They both nodded and looked towards the vent that was nestled in the center of the room.

Aina knew they were going to fix this, innocent lives and the world counted on it.

~~~~

Heris clenched her white jacket’s sleeves as they rode the elevator to Parnassus, she felt the intimidating height of Kray to her left and the just as equally intimidating silence of Biar to her right. 

“You were going to use the Burnish chambers either way, weren’t you?”

Even with his eyelids tightly closed, Aina still felt the critters than ran underneath her skin when his attention was focused on her.

“I was. Though, I needed you to make the choice to use them since you’d felt guilty with the action of living the rest of mankind to their fate.”

Teeth clenched tightly as she looked at her shoes, the shame and guilt increased as she remembered the face of Aina. How scared and furious she looked as Vulcan pulled her away from Heris, Heris caused her to feel that way. It couldn’t be helped, right? Heris promised their parents that she would look after Aina, promised them as they succumbed to the injuries caused by Burnish flames. Burnish that she couldn’t even blame because they belonged to small children, children who looked just as frightened as she felt. Yet, here she was; agreeing to use the Burnish as _fuel_ to power a ship that wasn’t even going to rescue them but rather have them turn to ash. Heris jolted from her thoughts as the elevator halted in its tracks, in front of the heart of the ship. All three stepped out from the elevator and into the hub as Kray looked around in satisfied silence before he spoke.

“While we engage in gathering the last of the fuel, I need you to stay here and work out any kinks that it may have. Good idea, don’t you think Heris?”

Phrased like a question but Heris knew what it was, it was a challenge against his word especially now that he held a very important part of her. She looked at him and saw the red of his irises staring down at her, Heris looked away and clenched her arms before nodding.

“Good, good. Biar, call the car.”

“Right away, sir.”

Heris watched as they left the hub, watched the doors closed before she jerkily turned to the control panels of the hub and she looked at all the darkened chambers that faced the hub. That loomed over it, over her and she felt as the guilt grew as she heard cries of some of the captured. Heris shut her eyelids tightly and she clenched her fists against one of the non-activated panels, closed her heart against all this. This was for the promise, for their parents. For Aina.

“Gulliver, tell me any kinks you’ve found within the programming if any.”

“Yes, ma'am!”

She listened with a half mind, she knew what there was but only one thought really stuck in her mind.

_For Aina._

~~~~

“How long is this trip Lio?”

Galo heard a snicker to his left as the man drove the vehicle they were in.

“Again? Galo, it’s only been a few minutes since you last asked. It’s just a little way more.”

He whined before he slumped against the seat and gazed out the window, trees had turned into sand dunes and mountains had faded into nothing as they drove. Three days have passed since the message was sent to Burnish Rescue, three days since the peace of a medical facility was changed to that of a rumbling vehicle. Galo hoped the others received the messaged, hoped that everything was going to turn out well from their end. Even though everything from this end was turning out well, he couldn’t help the unease that settled in his gut. Galo scowled at his reflection at all the passing dunes and his leg began bouncing with the need to move. He needed a distraction otherwise Galo wouldn’t be able to stop this restless feeling within him.

“This place, how long have you known about it?”

Galo looked over and he noticed as Lio flicked his eyes towards him before they returned to the road sand path ahead. He knew that he’s asked this question to Lio prior and it still filled him with gratitude as the other humored him with an answer. Probably felt the restless energy that jumped out of Galo like popping embers from a campfire.

“It’s a camp that I’ve been working with on the side as well. It’s been helped along enough that we can fit in the Burnish that we have luckily. However, instead of in the forest where our heat can be detected the camp is located near multiple volcanos that we blend in. The volcanoes make us invisible to Freeze Goon’s detection.”

He hummed, as impressed with the idea as to when Lio first mentioned the camp.

“How long have you been working with the camp?”

“Just some time, it was an idea the ol’ Boss had before she passed and left it to me.”

Galo reached over and gently squeezed the leather-clad knee that belonged to the man driving, he grinned as he saw the flush before it went away and witnessed the gentle smile that was left behind.

“You’ve done great to live up to your title Big Boss, even younger me knew that you’d be a boss. I’ve been calling you that since we were kids, you know.”

“Yeah, I know. I remember.”

The soft tone shocked Galo more than it should have but he couldn’t help it, couldn’t help as the softness in Lio’s eyes still held him captive. The warmth of them as they made Galo feel like he was laying in the sun on his favorite secluded hill to rest or read.

“Ah, we’re closer.”

“You’re amazing.”

“What?”

“You’re amazing.”

“Galo, wh—. What the?”

The alerted tone in Lio’s voice caused Galo to perk up and look at the sand road, look at the tracks that were already there but that had come from a different direction. Then they both heard the screams and the rumbling sounds of a building collapsing. Galo felt as the unease grew tenfold and he felt as the rage started to fill him up as they drew closer to what would have been the safe haven. What would have been home for a least a while longer and there standing above the rubble, above multiple blocks of ice that contained human beings was Vulcan. Who laughed as one of his tanks _crushed_ a block to nothing and the rage only grew and both men jumped from the vehicle as soon as it was parked. The duo was flanked by Lio’s generals as Lio launched a tank onto the one that Vulcan was standing from. Unfortunately, the bastard ducked inside as he caught sight of it but the tank still rolled away from the blocks of ice.

Galo felt as Lio’s flames engulfed all of them before it was dropped and their armor was one, it was one of the things Galo finally mastered within the training and while it did not look like the others — he still felt epic. The suit was identical to that of the Matoi Tech he and Lucia worked on together, except, it was twice as filled with his burning soul.

“How did you find us?”

The snarl that came out of Lio’s helmet only made Vulcan laugh once he popped out from the tank he was in. His fanged grin growing in width as he looked at the group, it was one that Galo recognized — it was smug and it was cruel.

“I wonder how! Surely, even you can figure it out, small boy. After all, you let it happen right under your nose.”

“Watch out Lio, your flank is completely open.”

Galo’s eyes widened as the old man from the rescue group snuck up and stuck a device on Lio’s side and the device glowed a bright blue.

“Lio!”

“Wha—“

The device beeped loudly before there was a bright flash that caused Galo, Meis, and Gueira to look away before they turned back at the sound of a bullet being fired. Galo moved and he extended his hand towards Galo, everything seemed to be going in slow-mo as he inched closer to Lio. Closer to saving him, to protecting him. Only he heard another bullet as it was shut and he felt the impact of it before his armor shattered away. He felt as something wrapped around his neck, as it pulled back him and he felt as the ice began its take-over in his veins.

“There you are General Thymos, we’ve all been so worried about you.”

A chill that had nothing to do with the ice ran down Galo’s back as he pulled against the restraint on his neck and as he looked towards Governor Kray’s smiling face. Then a yell from Lio forced him to look back as he watched his flame still try to fight against Vulcan. He fought against the restraint, against the Governor — Galo _needed_ to get to Lio. He had to!

It couldn’t end like this, he wouldn’t let it! Galo called upon his flames and he called, called, _called_. They responded only he felt the moment as Kray pressed the muzzle of a gun against his back and he felt as the bullet entered his body. As the ice that was there worked thrice as hard to get his veins filled with it, he heard and watched as the others fought against Freeze Force. Saw as Lio looked his way with a look of desperation, anger, and sadness, saw as Meis and Gueira launched him away from the site before they were cubed as well. And yet, the last thing Galo heard was the sadistic laughter of the Governor as the ice slowly covered Galo’s mouth.

“Time to go home Galo.”

Soon, Galo heard nothing and saw nothing but one last thought remained. 

_Lio, be safe._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to the end of the chapter, ouff, it's gotten hectic ey? Also, you know I wrote this to piano music and some of these parts actually became all sad because of those piano parts. Ah, music. Truly the best.
> 
> Anyways! I hope you enjoyed. Comments are not obligated but definitely appreciated and adored! Kudos are just the same and I hope to see you in the next chapter. Good night/ morning/ afternoon/ evening <3!


	12. Darkness Stayed Like an Unwelcomed Guest

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! I'm here with a new chapter and its got a bit more length to make up for the last short chapter! I hope you enjoy and I apologize for the wait but thank you for the patience ^^! 
> 
> Anywho, here's the chapter!

The impact against the volcano's side caused Lio to release a pained yelp that was soon taken over by the burning ice as it covered his body. He felt as his flames attempted to free him from the icy prison but with the surrounding heat and the heat within his body, Lio felt as his prison grew in size. Rage soon became despair as the fight slowly started to leave his body, as the cold he hadn’t felt in a long time finally started to set within Lio’s bones. Images of blocked ice flickered through his memory — the blocks of ice that contained his people, broken ice slabs because of those careless _monsters_ , Gueira and Meis in their ice prisons as they successfully helped Lio escape, and Galo. 

Galo with a collar around his neck attached to a catch pole like he was some animal, Lio witnessed as his skin turned blue before his encasing started. His eyes never left Lio’s as his for him to be safe was displayed in Galo’s blue eyes, if Lio could laugh he would. Safe. Safe and enclosed in ice away from his people. From his generals. From Galo.

_ What did we do to deserve this? _

Mia’s voice echoes through his memory, the memory as she turned into ash on a cave floor.

Vulcan’s face flashed through Lio’s mind, his sneer was wide in triumphant as it took in the chaos he caused. As it looked at Lio within his prison as he was launched, a look that promised Lio’s death within this frozen block. Lio’s rage reared its head back before its jaws opened and swallowed his despair, becoming one of the same and Lio called to his flames. Called to be freed because he was going to come out alive and he was going to save his people, save Galo.

Lio was going to make Kray Foresight pay.

Lio was going to make _everyone_ pay for what they’ve done.

He would not die.

~~~~

Galo walked down the white hall that he knew belonged to the lab from his childhood, he reached the room that used to belong with him. Except, it didn’t look like his room anymore. It looked like a small home theatre as his Promare once again took the form of when he was a child.

“Are we going to watch a movie?”

His promare looked up to him as Galo made his way next to his younger version before he plopped into a white seat. Galo looked around as he took in the room, it still oddly held the sterilized smell from his youth and it caused him to scrunch up his nose.

“Something like that.”

“Hm, alright. First, I’m knocked-out right?”

“You are. Kray Foresight and his goonies managed to find you and the rest.”

“Tch, that old man.”

Galo crossed his arms as he scowled at the blank screen, his leg bounced as the restlessness filled within his bones at the memory of the captured Burnish within the ice slabs. At the memory of Lio’s broken gaze as he was launched away from them to what hopefully would be safer. No matter how much he pushed to wake up, Galo couldn’t and it started to make him feel as if he was no longer in control. A small hand rested on his arm and he snapped out of his thoughts as he looked at his Promare who had a concerned look on his youth’s face.

“You will wake up, but you need to remember first.”

“Remember?”

“Remember what was done to you, you’ve currently only remembered snippets of it but you need to remember all of it. Some… Some memories aren't great and I can’t separate what you don’t remember from the drug that still lingers or from your mind that’s trying to protect itself.”

Dread filled Galo’s gut as what he did remember made him anxious but if he remembered then maybe he would be able to save everyone from this situation. Save the Burnish and normal civilians, save Gueira, Meis, and Thyma from their frozen hell, and save Lio from wherever he was. Galo would remember, he would remember and he was going to prevail past this. His fist gripped into a tight ball and he nodded his head as Galo’s determination made itself known within his eyes. 

“I’ll do it, maybe there’s something in there that needs to be remembered.”

The Promare nodded his youth’s head and his lips formed a line. The eyebrows furrowed and Galo knew the Promare didn’t enjoy the thought of hurting him. Galo rested his hand on his youth’s shoulder — he used to be so small! — and gave the Promare a small smile to comfort it.

“I’ll be okay. We’ll be okay.”

Surprise filled his youth’s features before the smile was returned albeit a bit wobbly with a nod of his youth’s head. Even so, a smile was a smile and it was not tainted with worry. It’s all that mattered to Galo and it gave him the strength to proceed with this crazy plan. 

“Alright, we’ll start then.”

The Promare stood up and gestured Galo to lean forward, which he did with a confused expression. His youth’s hand rested against Galo’s face and he pressed his forehead against Galo’s. The confusion increased within Galo to the point where he couldn’t hold it back and he voiced out the confusion with a hesitant voice.

“Uh, what are we doing?”

“Sh, I need to focus to unlock your memories.”

“I mean, I figured that out. But, I thought they were going to show on the blank screen that used to be an even whiter wall. Which I didn’t think was possible but here we are.”

“I… That is a good observation. I thought it would bring you comfort but now that you point it out that way maybe this whole set-up was for nothing. Hm.”

“Ah, well, you tried.”

“Thank you. Now, sh, so we can get this started. Our time is already running out.”

“Oh, o—”

Galo’s words were interrupted as the Promare pressed his youth’s forehead against his own and there was a flash of white as he was pulled into his gray memories.

~~~~

Everything was gray as Galo looked around and he watched as he saw his younger self, he guessed that he was at the age of eight years old. His younger self was pushing around what looked like to be a fire-truck. Against the wall rested a broken branch that had a white lid glued at the top of the branch with white streamer paper glued all around the branch. Ah, it seemed that even as a kid Galo liked to make his matoi tech. 

He watched as a woman with long blue hair walked in and she picked up Galo from his seat from behind and his younger self let out a surprised yell before he looked over to the woman. Happiness filled the boy’s eyes as he turned in her arms and wrapped his arms around her neck in a tight hug then a man with brown hair walked in and ruffled his crazy locks of hair. Galo noticed as they were the only parts of this world that was colored, it made his heart clench at the thought these were his parents. He had known love. Known it before he was closed away in a world that was too cold and gray. 

Galo watched as his younger self caught sight of something from the window, caught sight of a bulky young man with blonde hair and very familiar red eyes. He felt as his own eyes grew wide as the orange, red, and pink flames blasted through the window from Kray’s arm. The woman and man — no, his _mother and father_ — turned to ash instantly and his younger self was dropped to the ground as the ash from his parents covered his limbs. Galo watched his younger self stared at the ashes and even as flames surrounded him to the point he should be red from the heat, he lost any color he had in his face at what the ashes meant. He understood because it’s what happened to Grandpa when he passed away, but now it was his parents. Galo covered his ears as an anguished scream left the boy’s mouth, a scream that became a roar as his flames ignited. 

The flames came out his younger self’s back and Galo witnessed as the flames came out as wings that shielded Galo from the surrounding flames, no, it seemed to attempt to shield him away from the ashes from his parents. Then more flames sprouted from his younger self’s back as it started to take form into that of a bird’s back and into a somewhat elegant neck before it connected to head with a beak. The flames seemed to wisp out on the head as if there were three feathers atop the bird's head and the same seemed to happen towards where the tail would be of the bird. The wisps of flames long and graceful as the bird — a phoenix — reared its head back to match younger Galo’s cries of anguish and a hand grabbed Galo’s shirt, pulling him back into a large chest. Younger slumped forward against the chest as he was carried out by Kray, his younger self’s eyelids shutting shut as he knocked out from the energy that was drained. By then a crowd gathered around the house and they all yelled in surprise when there was an explosion of fire, the flames shooting to the sky as the bird took flight before it dissipated into the night sky. 

Galo looked back at Kray and felt a chill run down his back, there was a certain gleam in his eye that was becoming very familiar. 

He watched as the gray world around shifted before the colors that belonged to Kray, the burning building, and himself disappeared only to become different colors in different forms. The world changed to the surroundings to that of where the Promare was taken from Burnish, he recognized this memory as it had come to him in a dream. Things changed again as his mind registered this as being remembered and became a room with surgical tools on a silver platter next to the reclined, metal seat. On the seat, Galo watched as his younger self was strapped in and he mumbled barely coherent words towards the colored Heris and Kray. 

Kray hummed as he looked down at Galo’s unmoving form, he rubbed his chin. 

“He’s asleep.”

Heris’ face looked at him in confusion before it turned into unbelieving disgust.

“Of course he’s asleep! I placed a request for him to be put under because he will not be awake for this surgery, how could you even think he would be?”

“You’re being too soft, he’s a test subject.”

“He’s a child!”

They both stared at each in test silence and Galo noticed Heris angled herself in front of his younger self as if she could protect him. Before he looked back to where a giant sigh was let out from Kray before he nodded.

“Let us move on from this, we’re wasting the time he would be under. Get the others to begin surgery Heris.”

Heris nodded before she backed away and nodded to the surgeon who started her work on younger Galo. He watched as the surgeon gathered the necessary tools to open his head and he looked away, the queasiness settled in his stomach. Galo shook his head to get the confidence to look back and once it was gathered, he looked back to where the surgery was happening to watch as Heris directed the surgeon to place a type of chip within his brain. Rubbing his hand against his head, he felt for any scars and he knew for certain there were no scars on his forehead from the surgery. While he felt slightly impressed, Galo couldn’t help the shudder that ran through his body at the thought of the chip just hanging in his brain. 

“How will it work Dr. Ardebit? And how will we know it worked?”

Galo watched as Heris glared down at the table before she began speaking, not facing Kray.

“The drug I introduced you to earlier will make its way through Galo’s body through his blood and the chip will recognize the drug. Once it recognizes the drug then it will activate and that’s where we can erase his memories through destroying the neurons that help keep the memory.”

Kray hummed in response as he waited for the second part of his question to be answered and Heris slid her eyes closed as she clenched her fist tightly.

“We won’t know it would work until we need to use it. However, it worked on the mice that we tested this on.”

There was silence and Kray’s eyes opened slightly in an unnerving stare and Galo knew Heris felt it as per her shuffling and the tightening of the clenched fist.

“We won’t know until we try it? Really, Heris, I would hope you would at least give me a secure answer seeing as we’re already closing up the subject’s head.”

“He’s a human being with different structures because he’s also Burnish! We won’t know it worked until we attempt it and he doesn’t recall anything.”

Heris finally whipped around as she yelled the response back to Kray and Galo felt his own hands as they trembled.

“How do I even remember this? Let alone _see_ it if I wasn’t awake.”

The memory paused before he felt a warm sensation on his left shoulder and he looked over to the side. On his shoulder was a very familiar bouncing yellow, blue, and purple flame and the voice just as familiar when it came out in an echo-y type of way. 

“You heard it and your brain saved it in many memory plots. Course, it was erased with everything too.”

“Then how can I see it?”

The flame stayed silent and the silence carried until Galo broke it.

“Did you see it?”

There was a quiet hum of confirmation before Galo blinked and looked back towards the memory.

“How?”

“I’ll tell you another time. For now, let’s keep watching.”

Galo nodded and the memory started up again. He watched as Kray took a singular, intimidating step forward as he looked down at Heris. His lip curled in displeasure before it turned into a cruel smile as he looked at her and Heris’ flinch was barely there but Kray still caught the movement.

“Well then, Dr. Ardebit, it’s a good thing that we have something the boy needs to forget.”

Heris swallowed as she clenched her white lab coat in hands as she looked up at Kray with a wobbly expression.

“And do tell, what is the memory that needs to be replaced?”

“Simple, memories of his past life. Of his abilities. Of his home. Of his parents. Wipe everything until this boy is nothing but a clean slate. It seems like we will be getting a new family member in our intellectual group.”

“If we do that, he might die!”

“Then it would mean he’s not the perfect test subject we need, another to bury. It wouldn’t be the first now would it, Dr. Ardebit?”

A shaky breath escaped her lips before she looked down and her shoulders slumped before she mutely nodded. A hand rested — large, threatening — on her shoulder and there was a smile that was all but pleasant on Kray’s face as he embraced his victory.

“I’m glad we could agree, Dr. Ardebit. Start the trial, I need to head back to handle other matters.”

Galo watched as Kray disappeared through the opened doors before they slid closed. Heris turned back to where his younger self rested, she gently brushed her knuckles against his cheek once before she pulled a device from her coat pockets. The device looked plastic with the shine it had and it reminded him of a ladybug as the device was curved in the back and smoothly even in front of, it had an oval shape. The smooth part was a navy blue and it was pressed against the area where everything was once again placed together on his head thanks to the surgeon — who was awkwardly pressed against the wall. Galo had forgotten about her except for Heris who looked at the woman and gave her small, weak smile.

“I’m sorry about that. I’m just going to finish the last step okay?”

The surgeon nodded her head and motioned with her hand for Heris to continue and she did as the device was turned on. A light hue coming from the device as it passed over his younger self’s head and he saw as it was healed with no scar.

Well, that explained that.

A breath was released in a shocked gasp before there was a whispered word from the surgeon.

“Incredible.”

Heris hummed quietly and once the cut was healed, she replaced the blue part of the device with a new piece, this time an orange color.

“Thank you, it’s still a prototype but it’s getting better. It healed him… even if what I’m about to do is just as bad. He shouldn’t walk around with a scar.”

Silence followed before the surgeon broke it again, curious.

“Is that for his sake or yours?”

“Both, probably more so for myself. Maybe death would have been kinder, but I couldn’t see him die. Not so young. I have a sister his age you know, even if they’re different I see her in him. They met once, out in the garden that we have here. Galo befriended her like nothing even when she was shy, it was amazing. I wish he could have kept this normalcy.”

Galo clenched the fabric of his shirt as he felt the press of the need to cry in his throat, Heris looked small in his eyes as she stood next to where his younger self laid. He knew it didn’t make what she did right, but it still caused his heart to ache for her. 

“Well, let’s start this. Can you get me the platter with the needles while I fetch the needle that I need for his injection?”

The woman nodded and did as she was told while Heris retrieved the bottle where blue liquid filled the bottle almost to the brim and she returned to Galo’s side while the woman finished setting up the materials.

“Thank you, you can leave now.”

With a small nod, the woman left the room. Galo heard Heris’ voice before the scene stopped and changed again.

“You’ll live and find a way out of his grasp.”

The scene that became was still gray and the only colors that remained were of Galo, he was sitting in what appeared to be a play area outside. There were swings and slides of different sizes, of different colors but all so vibrant. Younger Galo watched a butterfly flutter past before it turned back around and rested on his nose, a sudden urge to giggle tickled his throat as the butterfly’s wings would flutter and touch his cheeks in gentle taps. There was a sound of a small step and the young boy gasped before turning to look at the direction of where the sound came from only to have his view obscured by the butterfly flying away. Once it was gone the younger boy met eyes with such pretty eyes that he was sure they weren’t human, the image of fairy folk flashed through his mind as he regarded the other child in front of him.

Galo watched as his younger self’s cheeks reddened enough to make him look like a tomato with blue leaves upon his head.

“Lio absolutely ruined me for anyone else.”

Well, that inside that became a reality and he felt himself match his younger self with how he felt his cheeks heating up. Galo felt as the fire bounced on his shoulder in mirth accompanied by an echo-y laugh and they continued to watch as the memory played. 

“Are you a fairy?”

_Are you fucking kidding me?_

Galo almost whined from the embarrassment that filled him and his younger self must have agreed because he looked like he wanted to throw up before he darted away from the other boy. Whose eyes were large in surprise and was very much wearing the uniform that came with being inside the Foresight Foundation.

“Are you seriously going to make me live through these horrendous moments?”

“Are you saying you don’t want to remember these lovely, ‘horrendous’ moments?”

With a hiss between his teeth, Galo shook his head.

“I want to watch them, I want to remember Lio. I want to remember us.”

The Promare hummed in a way that reminded Galo of a smug cat after it got what it wanted and he rolled his eyes as the scene before them remained the same. The only difference was that it was snowing and younger Galo was rolling a ball of snow before he attempted to place it on top of the second ball of snow. His younger self took a step back before he noticed that the head of the snowman was slipping, with a yelp he lunged forward only to see another child’s hand grab the snowman’s head from behind to place back. For a brief moment, his younger self met eyes with the same gorgeous eyes that belonged to the other boy, both their eyes grew wide in surprise. Younger Galo’s eyes grew because he met the boy again and he assumed that the other boy’s eyes grew because he saw Galo lunging towards him, both made undignified squawks as they fell to the snowy ground.

His younger self quickly lifted himself off of the boy as to not crush him into the ground and he looked down to ask if he was alright but the boy stared up at him and Galo lost all track of what he was about to say. The boy definitely now looked like fairy folk with porcelain skin and hair that was a pale green, younger Galo couldn’t help but poke the boy’s cheek with wide eyes.

“Oh, you’re real.”

The boy blinked before his brow furrowed and looked at his younger self as if he grew three-heads right in front of him.

“Yeah, no shit.”

Galo heard as his younger self gasped pulling back to the point where he sat on the cold snow in surprise, younger Galo looked around to make sure there was no one around.

“Sh! You’re not supposed to say bad words!”

“Says who?”

“The adults!”

Laughter escaped the boy's lips as he sat up to match Galo’s position, amusement played in his eyes as he looked at Galo.

“You listen to them?”

“Well… yeah. Don’t you?”

The boy scoffed and he raised his eyebrows in disbelief, it made younger Galo blush from embarrassment and he hunched in on himself.

“I’m Lio. Lio Fotia.”

His younger self looked back up at the boy — at _Lio_ — and he saw Lio now had a kind smile on his face, definitely different as to what he had before.

“I’m Galo.”

“Just Galo?”

There was a pause and younger Galo realized that he didn’t have a last name to accompany his first name. He opened his mouth before promptly closing and furrowed his eyebrows looking down, long fingers touched his cheek and he gasped as he looked back up at Lio. There was concern on the other boy’s face as he delicately touched his face then younger Galo noticed tears were coming out.

“Oh.”

The word left his younger self’s lips in the form of a soft sigh before his face with his hand and pulled the hand back, his fingertips were wet.

“Oh.”

This time it was louder as the meaning started to set in.

“Why are you crying?”

“I… I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?”

“No.”

“Hm. How weird.”

Younger Galo hummed in agreement and he blinked in surprise when Lio leaned forward with his face cupped between his hands. There was a press of something soft against his cheeks before Lio did it harder causing their heads to painfully collide. They both yelped and pulled away from one another, younger Galo now crying from the pain of their heads butting together.

“What was that for?!”

“I don’t know! I saw the adults do it before! One of them was crying and the other decided to smash their faces together, okay?”

“Why were they smashing their faces together?”

“I guess to make the other feel better. Adults are weird, I don’t get it.”

“You were trying to make me feel better?”

Lio hunched within himself this time as the embarrassment now jumped onto him, his cheeks reddened more and younger Galo knew it was not because of the cold.

“Well, yeah. Obviously, I wasn’t gonna let you keep crying.”

His younger self blinked before he grinned a Cheshire's grin and he leaned forward towards Lio.

“Awe Lio, so manly! Consider me wooed.”

He saw as Lio’s blush became more prominent with his teasing his face was shoved back causing younger Galo to laugh loudly as he crashed onto the ground on his back. Lio’s laugh soon joined in with his before they both fell silent and his younger self watched as the snow continued to fall to the ground in gentle sways.

“Why are you still lying on the ground? Aren’t you cold? And what does wooed even mean?”

“I’m just watching the snowfall and wooed means to seek favor or support of. At least that’s what my dictionary says, it came up in one of the fantasy books that I read.”

Lio hummed quietly before the silence came again only to be broken again by Lio.

“You didn’t answer the other question.”

“Hm?”

“If you’re cold.”

“I’m not.”

“You aren’t?”

“No, I think I’m too happy to feel cold.”

“Too happy? That doesn’t make you stop feeling the cold. How are you so happy you can’t feel the cold?”

“Come lie down next to me and I’ll tell you.”

“What? Why? I’ll get snow all over me!”

“Come on! I promise you’ll understand once you lie down next to me.”

Younger Galo held back a smile but he still felt as his lips twitched upwards when he felt Lio lie down next to him and he looked over to watch as Lio watched the falling snow. A peaceful look on his face and the only times there was movement was when he fluttered his eyelids to get rid of the stray snowflakes or to blink.

“You’re staring.”

“You’re pretty.”

Red blossomed on Lio’s cheeks as he turned to head only to glare at Galo, but the heat was lost to the redness on the boy’s cheeks.

“That’s only for girls.”

“No, it can be for boys too. You’re proof of that.”

His younger self grinned at Lio who rolled his eyes but there was a small smile that was on his lips.

“Well?”

“Well what?”

“You were going to tell me why you were so happy.”

“Oh, right! That’s because I met you, Lio!”

“What? That’s it?”

“Yup!”

“Hm. You’re strange.”

“Probably, but it doesn’t change the fact that you’re my friend.”

Silence followed but it was one of comfort before his younger self blinked and he turned to his head to look at Lio. Younger Galo noticed that Lio was wearing the simple uniform from the Foresight Foundation while he was completely covered in warm clothes to bat off the cold.

“Aren’t you cold Lio?”

“Hm? No, why?”

“You’re basically wearing nothing!”

“I am! These are clothes that cover me!”

“Yeah, but those are shorts! How are you not cold?”

Lio’s face turned absolutely mischievous as he looked back at Galo and cupped his face in mock innocence.

“Don’t you know, Galo? I’m magical, aren’t I? It’s what you kept saying I was!”

Laughter escaped Lio’s mouth as his younger self’s jaw dropped in disbelief and he started to throw snow at the other boy. Their laughter rang through the courtyard before the boy had to part ways only with a promise to meet each other again in the middle of the playground.

Galo watched as the memory played through Lio’s and younger Galo’s continuous meetings before they found out the truth of what was happening within the walls of the Foresight Foundation. Then, the memory of their capture came up and Galo recognized it as the one he dreamed about prior. It made his heart to ache all the same when their captors manhandled Lio to a different area even when he was kicking and screaming. It made him sick to see the promise of his memories erased again until there was nothing left. Until he was a blank slate with only selected memories because of Heris' constant update on the device and drug. 

As punishment, Lio was moved out further into Wing B in hopes they would not have the boys meet again but it was a lost cause as Lio would always find a way into Galo's life. Though Galo saw how undeniably sad Lio looked every time he reinstated himself, the cycle of Galo losing his memories never seen to end and it looked like at some point Lio was all but ready to give up until the seventh attempt of trying to escape, of having his memories erased.

"I know they mess with my mind and make me forget you. I know whatever I say won't make things better, but I want you to know even if I don't remember you instantly… part of me does. It recognizes that you're someone important to me and whatever Kray does, he'll never erase that part of you that holds a part of me!"

Lio looked at him with what would have been an unreadable cool expression but his younger self knew better, knew by how his brows furrowed and how he looked to be biting his cheek that he was registering what the boy had told him. Then the sun triumphed over the clouds and Lio grinned at him, grinned and punched his arm before he hugged him tightly with his forehead pressed against his.

"You'll always have a part of me too."

Younger released a quiet laugh before he hugged Lio back and tightly, he didn't want to let go. The night of the escape attempt arrived quickly and while younger Galo was excited with Lio at the chance to finally leave, he was still worried at the thought of being caught. With a determined shake of his head, younger Galo erased all doubt and thought how he would want to take Lio to get pistachio ice-cream once they were free because it reminded him of Lio's hair. Plus, he thought it looked really good when Lio had told showed him the ice-cream. It was going to work and they were going to be freed.

Except.

It didn't work.

And they weren't free. 

It was the eighth attempt and they still weren't close to getting out, to be free.

The setting changed with the memory shift after it passed into the final, successful ninth attempt. It was the last time his younger self ever saw Lio before he was wiped clear again at the late age of ten and woke up to find himself at the delicate age of eleven. With no Lio around, Kray saw no threat at younger Galo once again rebelling and it pained him to see just how much he blindly followed Kray despite the neglect, despite the too-high expectations but how could he have known when he didn't remember how it felt to be loved?

Loved and safe always rather than when he did something that benefited everyone but himself. Galo pushed back the prickling feeling behind his eyes as the scene started to change again and he opened his mouth to tell the Promare on his shoulder not to play anything because he remembered all of it. 

Remembered and knew how these next memories went like. Knew them in the same way that he forced himself to memorize his scarred arm because it felt like the only real part of him, memorized to the point where he sometimes wore tank-tops around Kray. After all, he knew how much he despised the scarred skin. Despised it for being imperfect and demanded into being hidden. 

Just as he was about to voice his thoughts everything around them went white and the Promare hummed to themselves in what sounded surprised but also acknowledgment.

"It seems like our time is finally up. Time to wake up Galo."

"Wha—?"

~~~~

Galo's eyes snapped open with a gasp and he found himself meeting with the blue eyes of Aina in a room that he didn't know.

Her eyes grew wide and a wave of relief seemed to pass through her as the tense line of her shoulders sagged.

"Galo."

"Aina?"

He rubbed his face as he sat up and looked around the room and saw that it was very much reminiscent of a jail cell but it didn't look like it was from the Foresight Foundation.

"What? Where are we?"

Aina bit her lip as she clenched her fists.

"We're still in the jail cells of the Foresight Foundation," Aina raised her hand as Galo opened his mouth and he shut it with an audible click of his teeth before Aina continued. "But it seems like these are more guarded by how much the patrol wonders around."

"Oh, that's fantastic."

She nodded as her shoulders slumped with a big sigh and she looked at her hands.

"They moved us while you were knocked out, but they announced something while you were out."

Galo's being filled with anxiety and he didn't like the ball that rolled around his gut as it made unease inhabit his body.

"What is it, Aina?"

"They started gathering the people who are in the Parnassus."

There were many words that Galo could say, many that were much more detailed to express what he was feeling. However, only one word came out that smacked the other words away with a stick and won the crown to escape Galo's mouth.

"Fuck."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi again! Thank you for reading the story, I want this one to explain more or less what happened in the Foresight Foundation with Galo's tragic backstory®.
> 
> I also want to apologize for taking a while, there is no real excuse rather than procrastination hit like a train and it sucked aughhh. But I hope you enjoyed this chapter and thank you for reading it.
> 
> As always, comments and kudos aren't obligated but they definitely are appreciated <3! I will see you in the next one and good night/ morning/ afternoon/ evening :)

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, thanks for reading! This is the first fic that I've ever posted! I hope you enjoy this ride we are on.


End file.
